Distinguished Alums 1987
February 23, 1987
Kenneth L. Engelman
Kenneth L. Engelman has served several Wisconsin pastorates and is currently Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Madison. About his pastoral work Engelman says, “I have not been a specialist in any particular facet… I have always worked on a broad front, trying to simply cover as many bases as I could. I am highly skeptical of specialization in the local pastorate, and also… of fads that come and go.” In the 1950’s, Engleman began a ministry among summer migrants, providing them with schools, medical care, social services, and classes in English-as well as use of a church for their own Spanish services on Sunday evening. For 10 years he was a Marriage and Family therapist at the American Foundation of Religion and Psychiatry, Green Bay. He initiated and was first Vice President of the Wisconsin Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Teaching stints include the Foundation in Counseling, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Campus, and Garrett-Evangelical. Widely recognized for his leadership, Engelman has served the Wisconsin Conference as Chairperson of several boards. He has also been elected to General and Jurisdictional Conference. Engelman earned a Doctor of Philosophy at University of Wisconsin in 1974 and a Master’s degree at Northwestern in 1955. He graduated from GBI in 1953 with a Bachelor of Divinity and from Illinois Wesleyan in 1949 with a Bachelor of Arts. In the words of one friend and colleague; “Ken Engelman does everything well, with gracefulness and good taste. His career speaks for itself; he has tackled difficult jobs and accomplished much for the kingdom. I’m glad we are making awards to people like Ken for these are they of whom our Lord spoke: ‘Ye are the salt of earth… the light of the world.”
James H. Cone
James H. Cone, theologian, educator, and author, is the Charles A. Briggs Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Seminary, New York. He is a contributing editor to Christianity and Crisis Review of Religious Research and the Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center. His many books, which include Black Theology and Black Power, A Black Theology of Liberation, The Spirituals and the Blues: An Interpretation, My Soul Looks Back, and God of the Oppressed, have been translated into Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian, Korean, and Japanese. As a lecturer in great demand throughout the world, Cone has taught at Philander Smith College, AR, Adrian College, MI, and been visiting professor at many other schools and universities. Cone received his Doctor of Philosophy from Northwestern University in 1963, Bachelor of Divinity from Garrett in 1961 and Bachelor of Arts in 1958 from Philander Smith College. Speaking about the relationship between his training as theologian and the black struggle for freedom, Cone asks, “For what reason has God allowed a poor black boy from Bearden to become a professional systematic theologian? As I struggled with these questions… I could not escape the overwhelming conviction that God’s spirit was calling me to do what I could for the enhancement of justice in the world, especially in behalf of my people.”