The conference will run from March 30th - 1st April and is being hosted by Dr John J DeGioia, the President of Georgetown University, and follows on from similar gatherings in London in 2002 and in Qatar in April 2003.

As previously, Christian and Muslim scholars from across the world will hold detailed discussions over three days. This year speakers will focus on the understanding of prophecy in the two faith communities; through intensive study of Biblical and Qur'anic texts the participants will also address topics such as 'Prophecy and Conflict', 'Prophecy and Society' and the claims to finality within Islam and Christianity.

Dr Williams said that he hoped the conference would build on the work of previous gatherings:

"Muslims and Christians share the conviction that the God who creates so generously also communicates with his creation, and they see the sending of prophets as a crucial part of that communication. So it's an exciting prospect for Christian and Muslim scholars to spend three days together studying the different ways in which our scriptures understand prophecy. I look forward to all that we will be able to learn from each other and to the deepening of understanding and of friendship between us."

As with the previous two gatherings, it is hoped that an account of the deliberations will be published in book form.

A full list of participants is below.

The first Building Bridges seminar was hosted at Lambeth Palace by Dr George Carey when Archbishop of Canterbury in January 2002. The proceedings of this seminar, for which Muslim and Christian scholars gathered for a wide-ranging theological dialogue, were published as The Road Ahead (Church House Publishing, ISBN 0-7151-5002-2).
The second building Bridges seminar was convened by Dr Rowan Williams and hosted by the Amir of Qatar and held in Doha in April 2003. These proceedings have just been published as Scriptures in Dialogue (Church House Publishing, ISBN 0-7151-4012-4).

Monsignor Khaled Akasheh
Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, Vatican

Dr Mahmoud Ayoub
Professor of Islamic Studies/Comparative Religion, Temple University, Philadelphia

Professor Azyumardi Azra
Professor of History and Rector, State Islamic University, Indonesia

Sheikh Dr M A Zaki Badawi
Principal of The Muslim College, London

Professor Vincent Cornell
Director, King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic  Studies, University of Arkansas

Professor Ahmad Dallal
Chairman of the Department of Arabic Language, Literature and Linguistics, Georgetown University

Professor Ellen F Davis
Associate Professor of Bible and Practical Theology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

Professor John L Esposito
Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies, Director of the Center for Christian-Muslim Understanding, Georgetown University

Dr Ida Glaser
Senior Teaching and Research Fellow, Edinburgh Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies

Professor MAS Abdel Haleem
King Fahd Professor of Islamic Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

The Most Revd Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon
Archbishop of Kaduna, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)

The Revd Canon Dr Michael Ipgrave
Inter Faith Relations Adviser, Archbishops' Council of the Church of England

 Professor Wadad Kadi
Professor of Islamic Thought, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago

Dr Hashim Kamali
Professor of Law, International Islamic University, Malaysia

Dr Enes Karic
Professor of Qur'anic Studies, Faculty of Islamic Studies, Sarajevo

Dr Assaad Kattan
Assistant Professor, Institute of History, Archeology and Near-Eastern Heritage, University of Balamand, Lebanon

Fr John Langan SJ
Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Professor of Catholic Social Thought, Georgetown University

Professor Jane Dammen McAuliffe
Dean of the College and Professor in the Department of Arabic, Georgetown University

Fr Daniel Madigan SJ
Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome

Professor Mustansir Mir
Director, Center for Islamic Studies, Youngstown State University, Ohio

Dr Tarek Mitri
World Council of Churches, Geneva

Dr Aref Nayed
Visiting Fellow, The Centre for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies (CARTS) Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge University

The Rt Revd Dr Michael Nazir-Ali
Bishop of Rochester, Church of England

The Revd Sr Prof Dr Teresa Okure SHCJ
Head of Department of Biblical Studies, Catholic Institute of West Africa, Nigeria

Dr Mona Siddiqui
Senior Lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies and Head of Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Glasgow University, Scotland

Professor Miroslav Volf
Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology, Yale University Divinity School

Professor John O Voll
Professor of Islamic History and Associate Director, Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University

The Most Revd & Rt Hon Dr Rowan Williams
Archbishop of Canterbury

Mr Timothy Winter
Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge University

Dr Ishtiyaq Ahmad Zilli
Professor, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, India

Monsignor Mato Zovkic
Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Sarajevo