Can Theology Be Practical? Part I: A discussion of theory, practice, wisdom, spirituality and context (original) (raw)

Can theology be ‘practical’?1 One of the clergy at my church asked me what my job title was at Regent University. I told him that I was Professor of Practical Theology. He laughed out loud and said: ‘Isn’t practical theology an oxymoron?’ To which I replied, ‘Well, it all depends on what you understand theology to mean and indeed whether you buy into a particular kind of dichotomous thinking: theory and practice, with that which is “practical” reduced to things like hints and tips for ministry. For example, how not to drop the baby at its baptism and what not to say at a funeral, for example, “Have a nice day!”’. But what we mean by the term ‘practical’ when we use it in this context is an interesting question. Similarly, what do we mean by ‘theology’? As Pete Ward has observed, practical theology has been derided for neither being properly practical nor properly theological.2