Description: Weaving together insights from social psychology, theology, and experiences of interfaith religious leaders, Dagmar Grefe develops practical strategies that support interreligious contact at a grassroots level. She shows that by working together, religious communities can more effectively address global and local problems that all people face: poverty, environmental destruction, and armed conflict. Grefe describes interreligious cooperation at work in local communities. She develops tools that equip religious leaders with the interreligious competence needed for spiritual care and counseling with individual persons in crisis. Cooperation is not only effective in the care for communities and persons in crisis, it also heals distant and strained interreligious relationships. In the process of working together, perceptions of each other can transform. Endorsements: ""Dagmar Grefe's well-crafted book is exactly what clinical pastoral education needs: searching theory connected closely to clinical insight. She introduces us to powerful insights from social psychology that will improve practice and asks her readers to connect with colleagues from all faiths to address local and global problems. To achieve these high goals in one readable book is a gift."" -Jackson Kytle Commissioner, Middle States Association Commission on Higher Education ""In a world that is increasingly becoming the 'global village, ' the ability to understand and appreciate religious differences is crucial. Dr. Grefe's work challenges us to think of creative ways to engage with our neighbors, whether they be in the community or in the institutions in which we work. Her practical approach invites the reader to consider the theoretical framework out of which her ideas emerge, but also the realistic ways in which we all have the ability to change and embrace the 'other.'"" -Bishop Teresa Snorton Presiding Bishop, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church ""Dagmar Grefe's work brings a unique dimension to our notions of healing, because she adds a profound personal history to her professional competence; and she places her work in our most intimate clinical setting (the hospital) within a world interfaith context . . . Her candor about her personal national origins, and the way in which those origins influence her work within America will be treasured by all those who value candor and the acceptance of the amazing complexity of the human enterprise."" -William Cutter Emeritus Steinbe