{"id":283,"date":"2009-03-21T12:02:17","date_gmt":"2009-03-21T12:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/what-is-practical-theology-par-1.html"},"modified":"2009-03-21T12:02:17","modified_gmt":"2009-03-21T12:02:17","slug":"what-is-practical-theology-par-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/what-is-practical-theology-par-1.html","title":{"rendered":"What Is Practical Theology? Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Practical theology (PT), as a discipline, takes a great deal of
\ninterest in empirical information. In fact, there is an entire school
\nof thinking within PT — found mainly in the Netherlands and Germany —
\nthat’s called “Empirical Theology.” Practical theologians, because of
\nthe importance of the groundedness of the discipline, are often
\nwell-versed in a social science, the way James Fowler was in
\ndevelopmental psychology when he developed his Stages of Faith Development<\/span>.<\/p>\n

(An aside: to all of you pissy commentors, I never said that practical theology was the only<\/span>
\ntype of theology that is grounded, just that it is the most committed
\nto being grounded. Contextual theologies like liberation, feminist, and
\nblack theologies surely blur the line between systematics, PT, and
\nbiblical studies.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Other practical theologians take other disciplines as their dialogue
\npartners, often social psychology, social theory, and sociology. All of
\nthese are important to the practical theologian who is trying to
\ndetermine what’s going on in God’s world<\/span>.
\nThus, we turn to social scientists who specialize in figuring out the
\n“what’s going on?” question. And more and more, practical theologians
\nare taking up the instruments of empirical research and gathering data
\nthemselves.<\/p>\n

This does lead to two interrelated questions: 1) What is the
\npractical theologian’s mode of interdisciplinarity? It’s intellectually
\ndishonest to raid other disciplines for their fruits, especially when
\nthey’re saying what you hope they’ll say. So one must enter humbly and
\nrespectfully into dialogue with a field that is not one’s primary are
\nof expertise. And 2) Who sets the agenda for theology? It seems odd to
\nlet psychologists or sociologists dictate what we should theologize
\nabout. On the other hand, when a dramatic social change happens (e.g.,
\nglobalization), or something happens in the natural sciences (e.g.,
\ndiscovery of the “gay gene”), it does seem incumbent upon theology to
\nrespond. Again, these are not decisions to be entered into lightly.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, this is what it means for PT to be “grounded.” It means
\nthat there’s a descriptive moment to PT that does, indeed, set it apart
\nfrom other types of theologizing.<\/p>\n

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

Practical theology (PT), as a discipline, takes a great deal of interest in empirical information. In fact, there is an entire school of thinking within PT — found mainly in the Netherlands and Germany — that’s called “Empirical Theology.” Practical theologians, because of the importance of the groundedness of the discipline, are often well-versed in…<\/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-283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Is Practical Theology? 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