Most of the contributions included in this volume were originally presented during a workshop held at the ‘Evangelische Akademie Loccum’ in 2001. The editors wish to explicitly acknowledge the financial and logistical support provided by the ‘Evangelische Akademie Loccum’. In particular, we appreciate the contribution of Dr Christoph Hüttig to the conceptual framework of the workshop and the establishment of contacts with Benjamin J. Cohen and Axel Peuker through him. Further papers were added and existing papers were revised subsequently, with final editing being done in 2004. The editors are grateful to the VolkswagenStiftung for its financial support in respect of both the workshop and the preparation of the publication. We also appreciate the editorial assistance provided by Michael Weiss. Due to the long editing process which is the sole responsibility of the editors the final versions of the various contributions differ in respect of timing. Authors have, however, successfully contributed to a meaningful interdisciplinary volume which the editors have sought to draw conclusions upon in their final chapter. This chapter also outlines perspective for further research. Finally, the editors wish to express their gratitude to the publisher and all the assistance provided by Cambridge University Press.