An interdisciplinary adventure into the worlds of teaching and practical theology Author: Affiliation (original) (raw)
Related papers
An interdisciplinary adventure into the worlds of teaching and practical theology
Verbum et Ecclesia, 2014
A constant challenge to researchers and academic scholars in practical theology is to stay relevant and up to date with the constantly evolving academic concepts in which they discourse. These interactions between individuals and intellectual fields often allow for what Julian M�ller terms a �moment of praxis� within their epistemology that functions as a meeting place between different ideas, paradigms and often even different academic disciplines.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article investigated the possibility of creating an interdisciplinary epistemology between practical theology and teaching. By exploring the role that post foundationalist discourse and interdisciplinary conversations can play in identifying and addressing challenges which face teaching, new light can be shed on the relationship between teaching and practical theology which thus highlights correlations between these two relevant fields.
Teaching Practical Theology: Introducing Six Perspectives
International Journal of Practical Theology, 2008
In the United States, practical theology has long been the discipline within the theological education curriculum that defines the sub-disciplines and courses in ministry. Typically, these sub-disciplines have included homiletics, liturgies, religious education and formation, pastoral care, church administration, and social mission. In the 1980s, this understanding of practical theology was deemed too narrow and parochial and scholars moved to advance broader and less clerical understandings of practical theology, though they did not reject the notion that practical theology still pertains to these functions of religious leadership. As broader understandings of practical theology became widely accepted, however, few practical theologians took up the question of how practical theology shapes the ministry curriculum as a whole or how it defines the various sub-disciplines that make up the curriculum and relates them to each other. In April 2006, the Association of Practical Theology (APT) in the United States hosted its biennial meeting at Vanderbilt University under the title, "Practical Theology and Its Sub-Disciplines: Pedagogies and Their Implications for Practical Theology." Through a series of discussions focused on pedagogy, presenters and participants explored the distinctive and particular character of each sub-discipline as well as what they hold in common. For the sake of time and focus we limited our discussion to six areas (education, worship, pastoral care, homiletics, administration, and mission), with the recognition that areas such as formation, spirituality, congregational studies, and contextual education would all need to be addressed in future APT meetings. Beyond the general question about how practical theologians teach in each area, the presenters and participants explored the following questions:-What are the distinctive pedagogies in each of the sub-disciplines that define practical theology?-What are some of the most challenging pedagogical problems that we face teaching in each sub-discipline?-Through an examination of the particular pedagogies of each subdiscipline, what do all, or most, have in common with the other subdisciplines?
The theology and praxis of practical theology in the context of the Faculty of Theology
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 2011
Notwithstanding the carefully defined parameters of the various departments within theology, the aspirant student sometimes finds it difficult to define the precise department within which a specific study would best be located. We have discovered that these various fields and departments have many areas of commonality and the borders between them are tested often, even in our own studies. However, we have learned that crossing between one field and another should not be seen as a problem but as strength, as it will enable the researcher to motivate and test his or her theological convictions. It is in this context that the subject of this article finds its motivation. Through it we have argued for a practical theology that will be responsible for engaging with its own theology, in order to find the necessary energy to sustain itself. Not only should practical theology be energised by its theology, it should also, as its name implies, be practical in its nature, offering help to all...
Strategies and Educational Aims of Theological Teaching: A Practical Theological Reflection
IJLRHSS, 2024
While it could be argued that education (the process of teaching and learning) is one of the most central functions within man"s existence, the primary goal of theological education is to equip thinking practitioners and practical thinkers. If they are good practical thinkers, the richness and virtuosity of their work can contribute greatly to both the life of the church and the common good beyond it. The primary question in this regard is-what strategies and insights does theological teaching require? In an attempt to deal with the above topic this paper aims to focus on strategies and educational aims of theological teaching whereby it will establish the norms and strategies of concrete situations in theological education.
International Journal of Practical Theology, 2000
One of the key moments of any conference of the International Academy of Practical Theology (IAPT) is the presidential address. It is an occasion for the President to address the conference topic or, as it has become customary in recent conferences, to present his or her view on the "state of practical theology". I therefore eagerly awaited the address of Bonnie Miller-McLemore at the 2011 IAPT conference in Amsterdam. The topic that she chose for her presidential address -Five misunderstandings about practical theologymade me listen very attentively. The questions running through my mind were: What are the common misunderstandings about practical theology? Who misunderstood practical theology? How would she address these common misunderstandings?
On becoming a practical theologian: Past, present and future tenses
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies
This article takes an autobiographical approach to the development of practical theology as a discipline over the past 30 years, with particular attention to my own context of the United Kingdom (UK). The unfolding of my own intellectual story in relation to key issues within the wider academic discourse provides an opportunity to reflect on some of the predominant themes and trends: past, present and future. Changing nomenclature, from ‘pastoral studies’ to ‘practical theology’, indicates how the discipline has moved from regarding itself as the application of theory into practice, into a more performative and inductive epistemology. This emphasis continues to the present day and foregrounds the significance of the human context and the realities of lived experience, including narrative and autobiography. Whilst the methodological conundrums of relating experience to tradition and theory to practice continue, further challenges are beckoning, including religious pluralism, and so t...
Practical Theology as interdisciplinary work
At the University of Pretoria the author a practical theologian, experiences a fruitful soil for the development of an interdisciplinary process. He refers to concrete examples of cooperation, but uses the article to reflect on best practices for the interdisciplinary dialogue. He comes to the conclusion that it probably makes more sense to talk of Practical-theological alternatives rather than to describe the subject in a single fixed manner of understanding and action. Our goal should rather be to open up the boundaries between Practical Theology, Human, Social and Natural Sciences
School of Theology, Australian Catholic University, 2011
This paper argues that the effective teaching of theology is enhanced when the theological educator is aware of the educational implications of the task. The implementation of appropriate teachinglearning strategies can facilitate student engagement and shift student horizons. Drawing on the work of Bernard Lonergan this paper explores the notion of teaching to promote a shift in students' intellectual, moral and religious horizons. Lonergan's thought and the student centred strategies of feminist theologian Rebecca Chopp are suggested as helpful approaches for teaching practical theology.