On the Need to Focus on a Catholic Theologate (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Practical Theology, 2015
As a person or people of faith, why do we do what we do? We could certainly answer this sociologically or anthropologically or historically, tracing the genealogy and evolution of any given practice through time and culture. Practical theology, though, aims to get to all of that all at onceto theorize and also reflect on the theological import of how we live out our faith lives. For most of its existence, "practical theology" has long been a term associated with and a discipline within Euro-American Protestantism. With its focus on congregational life or, alternatively, the various pastoral/ministerial arts as modes of cultivating the faith, it seemed to have no exact counterpart in Catholic circles. However, in the wake of Vatican II and the "practical theological revolution" (35) that it spawned, much more open dialogue and freer collaboration between Catholics and Protestants has become more normal than not in both academic and ecclesial settings. This, combined with greater emphasis on the pastoral aspects of Catholic theology and the growing role of laity, especially as they learned to exercise more and more agency over their own faith lives, laid the groundwork for practical theology as a discipline to take root in Catholic circles, with unique twists and commitments of its own. In the Catholic context, the big word, of course, is Tradition, and the concern of how that and the faith are passed down from one generation to the next and subsequently lived out lie at the heart of Catholic practical theology. Claire Wolfteich's volume presents the reader with a primer for the field, and she takes care to lead us directly into an animated conversation already in progress while giving ample, helpful background and context. While the individual chapters focus on U.S. authors, concerns, and perspectives, the book overall is open to more global conversations that would address other cultures and questions. Practical theology, from this Catholic perspective, occupies that ambiguous, permeable, lively space between the doctrines, theories, and texts that constitute the formal part of the faith on the one hand and the experience of lived religion infused by theological imagination on the other. In this, it touches on yet is distinct from pastoral theology, with the latter's focus on the pastoral and ministerial arts. It embraces the complexity of that lived experience and seeks to understand it as
Review of: "Catholicity in thirteen words
First, let me say that I appreciate Professor Blanco-Sarto's efforts to summarize Christianity in just 13 carefully considered words. This is not an easy task. Indeed, each descriptor offers a potent and meaningful counterpoint that begs further elaboration and hermeneutics beyond what is capable in what I understand to be a brief introduction to his course. Ultimately, I would expect that each descriptor would warrant at least an entire class of dialogue for his students to even begin to comprehend its import, particular understanding within the tenets of the Christian Faith, and its interrelationship and interconnectedness with each of the other descriptors, which together provide a more fulsome understanding of the Christian faith.
Introduction to Catholicit y to read Scripture and do theology in the context of the history of the church, or the Great Tradition as it is often called. 8 Part and parcel with this development, second, is the increasing number of volumes on ressourcement and (or) retrieval of the early and medieval church from an evangelical standpoint, 9 often connecting catholicity to questions of ethics, morality, and worship. 10 Third, and finally, there are a number of different attempts at constructive dialogue between major Christian denominations, including between Roman Catholics and Reformed, 11 Roman Catholics and Baptists, 12 and different Protestant denominations among themselves. 13 In short, within Christianity today, and evangelicalism in particular, there is a more explicit awareness of the importance of church tradition, on the one hand, and the catholicity of the church, on the other.
Theology at the Eucharistic Table - By Jeremy Driscoll O.S.B
Religious Studies Review, 2009
sophical questions of evidence, the individuation of persons, and idolatry. Throughout these analyses there is also a tenor of cultural critique as Steinbock criticises the modern conception of the self and diagnoses the rejection of vertical relations, which he calls idolatry, as the root of much evil in late capitalist societies. So while the book displays academic rigor it is at the same time a plea for a restored cultural sense of the vertical. Phenomenology and Mysticism stands out as an original work in a genre too often reduced to commentaries on classical figures. Steinbock is an acute phenomenologist in his own right, and this work sets a new standard for the interaction between phenomenology and theology/religious studies. While free of obscurantist jargon, the book nonetheless requires some background in philosophy and religious studies. Still, its fresh approach and its original analyses should make it the necessary point of reference for postgraduate students and established scholars alike. Press, 2007. Pp. vii +146. $26.99. In this text, which appears in SCM Press's Controversies in Contextual Theology Series, the authors insist that controversy demonstrates the inherently democratic nature of feminist theology and continually pushes it toward new ways of transgressing and transforming oppressive structures. Each chapter examines various feminist positions with regard to a particular methodological or doctrinal issue: gender and sexuality, feminist theological hermeneutics, the Virgin Mary, Christology, life after death, and the future of feminist theologies. While providing an overview of significant feminist theological positions, the authors emphasize approaches, like postcolonial and queer theologies, that more radically challenge the sexual, metaphysical, and capitalist assumptions of Western theology. Both authors have written extensively elsewhere on the need for Christian theology to take seriously transgressive sexualities, and this is the freshest insight that they bring to the discussions in this text (see especially the chapters on gender and sexuality and on Christology). It remains unclear, however, what audience is best served by this text. There is little new here for the reader who is well acquainted with feminist theologies, yet the discussions of various thinkers assume this acquaintance, and are too brief to serve well as introductory summaries. Moreover, the text would have embodied its argument more fully, and demonstrated the stated aims of the series more successfully, if the authors' voices were more distinct, thus performing the dialogically constructive nature of controversy.
Evangelical Roman Catholic Dialogue (2)
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