{"id":285,"date":"2009-03-23T12:05:47","date_gmt":"2009-03-23T12:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/what-is-practical-theology-par-3.html"},"modified":"2009-03-23T12:05:47","modified_gmt":"2009-03-23T12:05:47","slug":"what-is-practical-theology-par-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/what-is-practical-theology-par-3.html","title":{"rendered":"What Is Practical Theology? Part Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

OK, I was all brewing up a great intermezzo post with a provisional
\ndefinition of PT, then I got this anonymous comment that blew me away:<\/p>\n

\n

Practical theology is that
\ntheological discipline which is concerned with the Church’s
\nself-actualization here and now – both that which is and that which
\nought to be. That it does by means of theological illumination of the
\nparticular situation in which the Church must release itself in all its
\ndimensions. <\/span><\/p>\n

This practical theology is a
\nunique, independent science, a fundamental one in essence in spite of
\nits reciprocal relationship with other theological disciplines, since
\nits business of scientifically critical and systematic reflection is a
\nunique quantity and its nature is not deducible. For it is reflection
\noriented towards committal.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

The task of practical theology as
\nan original science demands a theological analysis of the particular
\npresent situation in which the Church is to carry out the especial
\nself-realization appropriate to it at any given moment. <\/span><\/p>\n

Practical theology challenges the
\nother theological studies to recognize the task which inheres
\nimmanently in them, oriented to the practice of the Church; the second
\ndemand it makes is that they should apply themselves to this task.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OK, I was all brewing up a great intermezzo post with a provisional definition of PT, then I got this anonymous comment that blew me away: Practical theology is that theological discipline which is concerned with the Church’s self-actualization here and now – both that which is and that which ought to be. That it…<\/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-285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Is Practical Theology? Part Four - The New Christians<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/what-is-practical-theology-par-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is Practical Theology? Part Four - The New Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OK, I was all brewing up a great intermezzo post with a provisional definition of PT, then I got this anonymous comment that blew me away: Practical theology is that theological discipline which is concerned with the Church’s self-actualization here and now – both that which is and that which ought to be. That it…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/what-is-practical-theology-par-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The New Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-03-23T12:05:47+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 Four - 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-3.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Is Practical Theology? 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