Cracknell, Kenneth

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.