Alister E. McGrath is Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University. He is one of the world's leading theologians and the author of numerous popular theology textbooks, including The Christian Theology Reader (second edition, 2001), Christian Literature: An Anthology (2000), Christian Spirituality (1999), Reformation Thought (third edition, 1999), Historical Theology (1998), and An Introduction to Christianity (1997), all available from Blackwell. He is also author of A Brief History of Heaven (2003), and co-editor of The Blackwell Companion to Protestantism (2003).