For the amplifier, you might want to look at something like an LM1875 or LM675, at national.com . They are just like opamps, as far as the circuit topologies that you can use them in are concerned. But some of them can output up to several amps (or more) of current.
Some chipamps need a gain of 10 or more to be stable. In that case, just put a resistive voltage divider before the input, if your input signal has a range that is too large.
You can also use them as a current-booster output stage inside the feedback loops of a Howland Current Pump topology (a type of precision voltage-controlled current source), about which there is a good appnote at national.com. In that case, your current-limiting could be achieved by limiting the input voltage swing.