The implications for ministry of the teachings of Kenneth Cracknell with special reference to former students

Abstract

To be effective in ministry in the contemporary religious milieu, today's seminarians, tomorrow's church leaders, must receive more than a mere academic experience; they need practical experience as to how to function effectively within a socially diverse climate of faith. The author documents the long term impact of Kenneth Cracknell's attempts to nurture cross cultural understanding and cooperation within the seminary context. The intent of this exposition is to demonstrate that Kenneth Cracknell has purposefully created a tranformative environment using interfaith dialogue as an effective paradigm for informing today's diverse seminary population. To that end, opinions, reactions and musings of a dozen former students are documented and presented herein as models of appropriate conversation for interfaith dialogue.