For several years I vowed never to do an edited book again. But the experience of this project compelled me to break that vow. It began with the urge to write something on the changing face of proselytization in our globalizing world, accompanied by the realization that I could not do it alone. So I decided to organize a symposium on the topic for the International Association for the History of Religion's nineteenth World Congress in Tokyo in March 2005. Several of the authors traveled from around the world to participate in this most stimulating academic encounter, and we followed up with more sessions at the 2007 American Academy of Religion and American Anthropological Association meetings in San Diego and Washington, DC respectively. In the interim, the academic communitas was nurtured by various exchanges within the group and among authors, as well as by internet and media postings of stories relating to controversial aspects of proselytizing (Jean-François Mayer and his www.Proselytism.info website were an invaluable resource in this regard).

I am especially gratified that this volume contains chapters from several younger scholars from around the globe. Their work reflects intimate knowledge of the various localities where they reside and/or have conducted recent fieldwork. The project is also enriched by the contributions of several seasoned scholars who have been able to provide analyses of larger social and religious fields. My own interests in religious change and (re)affiliation in Africa date back three decades, but, like many of the authors in the collection, I am struck by how the legal and mass-mediated dimensions of these issues have increased.