scholarly journals The narrative turn in practical theology: A discussion of Julian M�ller�s narrative approach

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaco S. Dreyer
Keyword(s):  
Practical Theology ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Narrative Approaches ◽  
Human And Social Sciences ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
Scientific Practical ◽  
Theological Methodology ◽  
Methodological Debate

The importance of narrative for practical theology is today widely recognised, both nationally and internationally. There is, however, disagreement amongst practical theologians regarding the scope and role of narrative in practical theological methodology. The practical theologian Julian M�ller made, and continues to make, an important contribution to the methodology of practical theology through his narrative approach. The aim of this article was to contribute to the ongoing methodological discussion about the scope and role of narrative approaches in practical theology. M�ller�s narrative approach was discussed against the backdrop of the narrative turn in the human and social sciences. It was concluded that M�ller�s narrative approach reveals some of the key tensions in practical theological methodology. His metaphorical narrative approach, as a representative of the poetic pole in the methodological debate, helps to guard practical theology from losing its transformative orientation and its vital connection with religious practice. Embracing a variety of approaches could help practical theologians to steer between the Scylla of a one-sidedly scientific practical theology and the Charybdis of the triumph of the immediacy of praxis.

Anticipation in the Normative Task of Practical Theology

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-88
Author(s):  
Theodore James Whapham
Keyword(s):  
Practical Theology ◽  
Theological Method ◽  
Main Thesis ◽  
Wolfhart Pannenberg ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
Theological Methodology ◽  
Theology Of Tradition

AbstractThis essay seeks to make a contribution to Catholic practical theological methodology through a discussion of “anticipation” as developed in the theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg. Its main thesis is that an understanding of the proleptic and anticipatory character of revelation and tradition can help articulate the role of tradition in the normative task of a Catholic practical theology. The first section of the paper looks at the normative task of practical theology and how this is reflected in the Whiteheads’ Method of Ministry. Then it seeks to explain the notion of “anticipation” and its implications for a theology of tradition. Finally it draws out the implications of incorporating this concept into practical theological method.

scholarly journals Die noodsaak van die verrekening van metateoretiese vertrekpunte in prakties-teologiese wetenskapsbeoefening

2010 ◽  
Vol 44 (3/4) ◽  
Author(s):  
F.W. De Wet ◽  
H.J.C. Pieterse
Keyword(s):  
Practical Theology ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
Scientific Practical ◽  
Vantage Points ◽  
And Task

The necessity of reckoning withmetatheoretical assumptions in scientific practical-theological research This article is the first in the research project “Metatheoretical assumptions in Practical Theology”. The research problem has to do with the lack of explicitexpression of metatheoretical assumptions against the background of a plurality in scientific approaches to the discipline. Sometimes researchers do not explicity state their theological and other approaches. In this project a group of reformed practical theologians explicitly state their metatheoretical theological and other perspectives and explain their vantage points inresearching the praxis. The necessity to explain metatheoretical assumptions pertaining to the assumptions about reality, the hermeneutical process in understanding, explaining and changing actions in praxis, and the nature and task of scientificresearch, is discussed from a reformed perspective.

scholarly journals The Openseminary Methodology: Practical Theology as Personal, Local and Transformative

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 652
Author(s):  
Brian Macallan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Practical Theology ◽  
Theological Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Education Today ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
Theological Methodology

Theological education continues to be subject to rapid social and technological change, which is further exacerbated by the recent global pandemic. Practical theology as a discipline continues to grow, being well placed methodologically to engage with diverse contexts and these global realities. The task for theological education is whether it can meet these challenges and be part of the transformation required. Openseminary as a methodology and program was developed in the early 2000s by Wynand De Kock to enable students to both learn practical theology as a methodology, as well as reflect theologically in their own context. Over the last two decades, it has run in South Africa, at Tabor College in Australia, as well as Palmer Seminary in the United States. In what follows, the methodology and program are explored in terms of their genesis, history, and current articulation. It is argued that it is a practical theological methodology well suited to the personal, local, and transformative goals of theological education today.

scholarly journals Imagining the beauty and hope of a colourful phoenix rising from the ashes of Marikana and service delivery protests: A postfoundational practical theological calling

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johann-Albrecht Meylahn
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
South African ◽  
Practical Theology ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Narrative Theology ◽  
Industrial Action ◽  
Current Events ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
Brighter Future ◽  
Open The Doors

The last few years the young democratic South Africa’s history has been characterised byservice delivery protests and industrial action which is becoming increasingly violentas epitomised by Marikana. Is the violence that accompanies industrial action and servicedelivery protests emblematic of a powerless frustration and a violent revulsion at the thoughtthat there will be no change? For 18 years, hope was placed in the idea of liberation which would open the doors to a brighter future for the majority, yet all that remains of that noble dream lies in the ashes of current events that populate the newspaper headlines of the major South African newspapers. What role can Practical Theology play in this context? What is thecalling of Practical Theology, and specifically post foundational narrative theology? These arethe questions this article will seek to answer, by proposing that a narrative approach can listento the untold stories and thus the colourful phoenix can rise from the ashes.

scholarly journals The missionary role of mainstream Christianity: Towards a narrative paradigm for social integration of minorities in pluralistic post-apartheid South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Klaasen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Practical Theology ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Narrative Paradigm ◽  
Social Coercion

This article attempts to add to the existing approaches of practical theology and specifically to the missionary approaches of mainline churches towards immigrants. This is an attempt to enhance the mission amongst immigrants by critically engaging with the two approaches, namely: mainstream and margins and pillarization. Notwithstanding the important contributions that these two approaches make to tolerance, integration and cohesion of differences I seek to point out some serious limitations of the two approaches. These limitations include social coercion, co-option, relativism and loss of identity. Considering these limitations a third approach, the narrative approach, takes serious community, tradition and symbol for more effective mission amongst immigrants by mainline churches. Social cohesion, a more realistic reality and integrated communities are some of the consequences of this approach when doing missionary activities amongst immigrants.

scholarly journals Keeping It Real: Decolonizing Christian Inter-Religious Practice as an Exercise in a Practical Theology of the Cross

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 203
Author(s):  
Pamela R. McCarroll
Keyword(s):  
Religious Education ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Reflective Process ◽  
Spiritual But Not Religious ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Key Dimensions ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
Theological Methodology

“What is suffering? What is hope?” These are questions I have asked for years with classes full of students training for Christian ministry. Now, I ask these questions in classes with Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and ‘spiritual but not religious’ students, all in training to be spiritual care therapists. The institution where I serve is in the process of transitioning from a mono-religious Christian theological College to a centre for multi/inter-religious education. Those of us who teach in the program are disrupted continually by pedagogical challenges that both perplex and energize us. The multi-religious classroom decolonizes spaces long dominated by Christian theological discourse. Course content yields to a fluid and open-ended, interactive process. My “mastery of the field” gives way to an ongoing practice of surrender—a kenotic self-emptying—that usually leaves me shaken in overwhelming awe or angst-ridden questioning. Through a practical theological methodology that begins with lived human experience, this paper shares an autoethnographic account of my experience as a teacher in the multi-religious classroom. It presents key dimensions of the theology of the cross as an interpretive framework and closes by examining how the theology of the cross offers a practical Christian theological reflective process to empower decolonizing pedagogy.

scholarly journals Om in die Gees te begin en in eie krag te eindig – die noodsaak van ’n Skrif- gefundeerde prakties-teologiese Pneumatologie

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
F. W. Fritz
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Practical Theology ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Vision Of God ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
The One ◽  
Acts Of God ◽  
True Relationship

Starting in the Spirit and ending in own power – the necessity of a Scripturally founded practical-theological Pneumatology In this article one of the main problem areas of Practical Theology is addressed: In the hermeneutical interchange between theological reflection on the normative elements flowing from the revelatory presence and acts of God on the one hand, and ministering these normative elements in the concrete praxis in which man finds himself on the other hand, Practical Theology as discipline may commit the error to start in the Spirit but end in own power. In its core this problem manifests as a lack of a Pneumatology that describes and enhances the true relationship between the Spirit of God and the spirit of man. The need for a practical-theological Pneumatology that operates in the context of the covenantal relationship in which Christ fulfils the role of Mediator is argued and illustrated. The Holy Spirit leads the believer in a relation to praxis that is based on faith in Jesus Christ – seeing reality through his eyes and acting according to his mindset and power. The implications of this kind of Pneumatology are indicated for two important practical-theological aspects: firstly the ministering of reconciliation as the heart of all practical- theological activity, and secondly the key concept of perception by faith in combining vision of God with vision of what is seen and done in the concrete dimension of the praxis.

scholarly journals Metateoretiese vertrekpunte ten opsigte van wetenskaplike navorsing in die Pastorale Wetenskap

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gert Breed
Keyword(s):  
Practical Theology ◽  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
Scientific Practical

Hierdie artikel is deel van ’n reeks oor die verrekening van die metateoretiese vertrekpunte in die wetenskap van die Praktiese Teologie. Die eerste fase van die reeks bied die teoretiese onderbou vir die werklikheids-, hermeneuties- en wetenskapsteoretiese beskouing van die vak. Die tweede fase fokus op die invloed wat hierdie vertrekpunte op die wetenskaplike navorsing van die verskillende vakgroepe in die Praktiese Teologie het. Hierdie artikel handel oor die wetenskaplike benaderingswyse tot die navorsingsveld van die Pastorale Wetenskap. In hierdie navorsingsartikel word die persoonlike metateoretiese perspektief waarmee die vakgebied van die Pastorale Wetenskap benader word, uitgespel en verantwoord ten opsigte van die volgende aspekte: die werklikheidsbeskouing waarmee daar op die navorsingsveld van die Pastorale Wetenskap gefokus word; die onderbou van die hermeneutiese beskouing wat nodig is om tot ’n verstaan te kom van die elemente in die Pastoraat en om tot ’n verantwoordbare verhouding tussen te kom van die elemente wat in die Pastoraat ter sprake is; en ten slotte, om die wetenskapsteoretiese benadering te beskryf waarmee die navorsingsveld van die Pastorale Wetenskap op ’n wetenskaplik-verantwoorde wyse ondersoek kan word.his article is part of a series about taking into account the metatheoretical assumptions in scientific practical-theological research. The first part of this series gives the theoretical foundation for the view on reality-, hermeneutical- and scientific-theoretical approaches to the research field. The second part focuses on the effect these assumptions will have on the scientific research of the various subject groups in Practical Theology. This article describes the scientific approach to the research field of pastoral care. This research article describes the personal metatheoretical perspective from which the subject area is approached and gives account of the following: the view on reality with which the research field of Pastoral Science is studied; the foundation on which the hermeneutical viewpoint is built to attain an understanding and a founded relationship between the elements that are applicable in Pastoral Science; and, in the last instance, to describe the scientific theoretical approach to the research field in a justified manner.

scholarly journals HIV/AIDS, narrative practical theology, and postfoundationalism: The emergence of a new story

2004 ◽  
Vol 60 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Müller
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Practical Theology ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Philosophical Framework ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
Hiv Aids

The practical theology that emerges from this article is one that develops out of a very specific context – in this case, HIV/AIDS. The philosophical framework is found in an integration of two paradigms, namely social-constructionism and postfoundation-alism. The article concludes with a research case study from the HIV/AIDS context. Practical theological research is not only about description and interpretation of experiences, but it is also about deconstruction and emancipation. The bold move should be made to allow all the different stories of the research to develop into a new story of understanding that transcends the local community. According to the narrative approach, this will not happen on the basis of structured and rigid methods, through which stories are analysed and interpreted. It rather happens on the basis of a holistic understanding and as a social-constructionist process to which all the co-researchers are invited and in which they are engaged in the creation of new meaning.

Narratives in Health Care

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-76
Author(s):  
Isabella Sarto-Jackson ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Biopsychosocial Model ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Everyday Language ◽  
Narrative Approaches ◽  
Therapeutic Tools

The role of narratives in clinical practice has long been underappreciated. This disregard is largely due to an overemphasis on reductionist interpretations of disease causes based on the primacy of the medical model of disease. This way of thinking has led to decontextualizing symptoms of disorders from patients’ lives. More recently, however, healthcare professionals have turned towards a biopsychosocial model that reintroduces sociocultural and psychosocial aspects into clinical diagnosis and treatment. To this end, narrative approaches have been increasingly explored as alternative diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Central to the narrative approach is the avoidance of pathologizing language that usually focuses on deficiencies. Instead, patients’ narratives are co-constructed and co-created together with the clinician or therapist to transform them into empowering stories about healing. To make narratives accessible and transformable for the patient, psychoeducational methods can be used to translate scientific and medical knowledge about the disease into stories described in everyday language that resonate with the patient’s own life stories. Consequently, psychoeducational narratives enhance the patient’s competence in coping with a physical or mental illness and re-contextualizing symptoms, and prompt an increased compliance with therapies.

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