Michael Johnson is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago.

Does religious extremism represent an inevitable consequence of firmly held beliefs in life-and-death situations? Is there a way out?

Gathering ethicists and scholars from the three major and often conflicting monotheistic traditions, each was asked to correlate a religious tradition's sacred texts and tradition with the contemporary world's pluralism and claims about the inalienable sanctity and dignity of human life. The result is that the reader sees "human life before God" in new and profound ways.

Contributors include:

Hilary Putnam

Abdulaziz Sachedina

Lisa Sowle Cahill

Michael Fishbane

William Schweiker

Tikva Frymer-Kensky

Michael A. Johnson

Paul Mendes-Flohr

Kevin Jung

Lawrence Vogel

Azizah al-Hibri

David Little

Kohn Kelsay

Seyyed Hossein Nasr