This book started life as a timely conversation between two colleagues from diverse disciplines: sociology and feminist theology. It would seem an unlikely conversation but both were fascinated by the concept of otherness, a concept that in different ways is central to both their disciplines. So the conversation turned into a book dialogue in which otherness is explored from a number of political and cultural stances. Further, in this conversation we hope that the strengths and the weaknesses of each other's disciplines become highlighted. Certainly the authors have attempted to discover how the dance of these two disciplines can push the other forwards in a mutually supportive way.

It is our experience that many people come to universities because they are interested in finding out more about other people. Of course, they also want qualifications and to improve their chances in the labour market, but attempting to understand others is a common human interest. People might be particularly attracted to social sciences or to theology because of this interest in others. At the same time, they often find that they will have to postpone this interest, because they are faced with the need to encounter the traditions of the subject first, various abstract issues that arise, such as the work of particular writers or the need to pursue particular subdisciplines, such as research methods.