This bold and wide-ranging investigation into our concept of the self considers the role of the individual in the great world religions, and the portrayal of human self-awareness in some of the greatest works of world literature - from a Tang Dynasty poet in eighth-century China to works by Hafez (Iran) Tagore (India) and Chekhov (Russia). Stephen Green then considers the distinctive contribution of Christianity to our growing understanding of the self - beginning with St Paul, and tracing a thread through thinkers such as Augustine, Luther, Locke, Kant and the Romantics, as well as thinkers influenced by the Christian tradition, such as Nietzsche, Freud and Heidegger. He concludes by exploring the implications for our ethics and politics, arguing that despite the doubts and challenges facing the liberal democratic consensus in recent years, that consensus remains firmly based on a realistic and increasingly nuanced understanding of the self and how it behaves within different historical, social and cultural contexts.