{"id":282,"date":"2009-03-20T11:56:33","date_gmt":"2009-03-20T11:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/what-is-practical-theology-par.html"},"modified":"2009-03-20T11:56:33","modified_gmt":"2009-03-20T11:56:33","slug":"what-is-practical-theology-par","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/what-is-practical-theology-par.html","title":{"rendered":"What Is Practical Theology? Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among my most popular posts from my old blog were those on my working definition of practical theology.  As I am engaged in the section of my dissertation in which I establish my version of practical theology, I’ll repost the series here at BNet.  Enjoy!<\/i><\/p>\n

I do get asked on occasion, “What is practical<\/span>
\ntheology?” Lots of people are pretty sure they know what systematic,
\ndogmatic, and biblical theology are, but less are sure exactly what
\npractical theology is.<\/p>\n

At Princeton Theological Seminary, Dr. Richard Osmer has developed a
\nmodel of doing practical theology that is extremely helpful in this
\nregard, so I’ll describe it over the course of a few posts. His is what
\na philosopher would call a “wide, reflective equilibrium model” — that
\nis, he’s not trying to reinvent the wheel but to describe the field of
\npractical theology as it currently stands.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But before that, a little history: the theologian Friedrich
\nSchleiermacher “invented” practical theology in the 18th century. At
\nthe time, the German research university model was being born — that’s
\nwhat all of our higher education now is reflecting, for better and
\nworse — and the work of theology was being broken up into what is
\ncalled the “theological encyclopedia.” The volumes in that encyclopedia
\nwere 1) biblical studies, 2) systematic theology, and 3) church
\nhistory. Schleiermacher proposed that a fourth discipline be added,
\ncalled “practical theology,” that would develop “rules of art” for
\nChristian life and ministry.<\/p>\n

Over the course of three hundred years, however, practical theology
\ndevolved into, basically, application of the findings of the other
\nthree disciplines. That is, you’d take all your weighty courses in
\nseminary from the other three, then you’d get a class on preaching or
\nChristian education or pastoral counseling that was basically a “nuts
\nand bolts” class.<\/p>\n

Since the middle of the 20th century, there has been a renaissance
\nin practical theology, spurred on by the University of Chicago Divinity
\nSchool, Princeton, Emory, and several European universities. During
\nthis time, practical theologians have staked their claim as doing
\nconstructive theology, not merely applying the findings of other fields
\nof study. What sets practical theology apart from the other three
\ndisciplines in theological education (and what I find most compelling)
\nis that it’s grounded <\/span>theological
\nreflection. In other words, practical theologians attempt to deal with
\nissues that are a part of life in the world, not to solve abstract
\ntheoretical problems.<\/p>\n

So here’s a working definition: practical
\ntheology is theological reflection that is grounded in the life of the
\nchurch, society, and the individual and that both critically recovers
\nthe theology of the past and constructively develops theology for the
\nfuture.<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Among my most popular posts from my old blog were those on my working definition of practical theology.  As I am engaged in the section of my dissertation in which I establish my version of practical theology, I’ll repost the series here at BNet.  Enjoy! I do get asked on occasion, “What is practical theology?”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Is Practical Theology? 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I do get asked on occasion, “What is practical theology?”…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/what-is-practical-theology-par.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The New Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-03-20T11:56:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Jones\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Is Practical Theology? Part One - The New Christians","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/what-is-practical-theology-par.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Is Practical Theology? 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