Kenneth R. Cracknell (19 June 1935 – 26 October 2022) was a British theologian who specialised in interfaith dialogue and the Christian theology of religions.
Cracknell has written many articles and books on interfaith dialogue and other subjects, including Towards a New Relationship (1985), Justice Courtesy and Love (1994), An Introduction to World Methodism (2005), and In Good and Generous Faith (2005). A festschrift, A Great Commission (2000) edited by Martin Forward, Stephen Plant and Susan White, includes scholarly articles by numerous friends and colleagues on the occasion of Cracknell's 65th birthday. He has pioneered a sensitive and respectful Christian approach to the religious Other while dealing skillfully with Bible verses that for some demand a total condemnation of other religions and the conversion of their followers. Wesley S. Ariarajah, former director of inter-religions relations at the World Council of Churches describes Cracknell's discussion as "a probing exegesis of the apparently exclusive verses." Defining mission as witnessing to the compassionate presence of God in the world modeled by the life and suffering of Jesus Christ, Cracknell does not reject conversion from one faith to another but is more concerned with movement towards a deeper relationship with God and with loving action in God's world to reduce pain, poverty and prejudice. His Justice, Courtesy and Love examines the contributions of Christian scholars including missionaries whose encounter with the religious Other deepened their own understanding of the nature of God's concern for the restoration of human and planetary health. His career included pioneering the interfaith relations work of the British Council of Churches, teaching at University of Cambridge and at Brite Divinity School, Texas from where he retired in 2007 as Distinguished Professor of Theology and Global Studies.
Education
Cracknell obtained a B.D. degree from the Universities of London (1959) and Oxford (1995). He was educated at the University of Oxford (BA, MA) and the University of Leeds (Post Graduate Certificate with distinction in Religion) and at the Richmond Methodist College, London where he trained for ministry.
Career
A British subject and Methodist minister, he began his career teaching in Nigeria through the Methodist Church Overseas Mission Division, then served as minister in Loughborough and as chaplain to Loughborough University from 1967 to 1978. He served as the first Director for Interfaith Relations in the British Council of Churches from 1978 until 1987 at first under the chairmanship of David Brown, Bishop of Guildford and (from 1983) of Bishop Jim Thompson. He has been associated with the World Council of Churches as a member of the Dialogue Sub-Unit, later the Office on Inter-religious Relations. Cracknell's scholarship is widely cited. Marcus Braybrooke, historian of interreligious relations, refers to Cracknell as "the influential Methodist thinker" in his contribution to Islam and Global Dialogue (2005) (edited by Roger Boase).
The Four Principles of Dialogue
At the BCC, one of Cracknell's most important contributions was developing and promoting the "four principles of interfaith dialogue". He redacted these from the 13 principles contained in the WCC's Guidelines on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies (1979). They are:
Dialogue begins when people meet each other; Dialogue depends on mutual trust and mutual understanding; Dialogue makes it possible to share in service to the community; Dialogue becomes the medium of authentic witness.
Several member churches including the Church of England endorsed these before Cracknell left the BCC in 1987.
Promoting Christian Reflection
Cracknell founded the Association for Ministerial Training in a Multifaith Society, which held annual conferences attended by upwards of 200 clergy over several years, exploring how theological education ought to respond to the reality and challenges of multiculturalism. As national conversation in the United Kingdom about citizenship, identity and belonging and the place of the nation's Christian heritage (and established Church) developed, Cracknell began the process that resulted in the publication of an important Christian contribution to this discussion, Belonging to Britain: Christian perspectives on religion and identity in a plural society (1991) (edited by Roger Hooker and John Sargant) to which he also contributed.