Mowat and Swinton-Practical Theology and Qualitative Research notes

Mowat and Swinton-Practical Theology and Qualitative Research notes

 

6          “Practical Theology is critical, theological reflection on the practices of the Church as they interact with the practices of the world, with a view to ensuring and enabling faithful participation in God’s redemptive practices in, to, and for the world”

 

            4 key points:

1.      PT is critical.

a.       Appreciative understanding of the deep meanings within a context

b.      Every human reality is limited and fallible

c.       PT challenges the status quo and accepted assumptions and practices to help it develop and manifest the divine life.

2.      PT is a theological discipline, the primary source of which is theology.

a.       Theology is not just reflective, not just cognitive. Theos + logos = the order of God, the Word of God, the structure of God.  Theology is primarily a lived reality.

b.      Practical Theology addresses the lived reality for its theological adequacy.

3.      PT takes the practices of the world seriously as meaningful.

a.       “all human actions both participate in and fall short of the purposes of God” (Alastair Campbell, p. 7)

b.      “The task of Practical Theology is to ‘remind’ the Church” of the “ways it differs from the world and to ensure that its practices remain faithful” to the divine life.

4.      “The primary task of Practical Theology is to ensure and enable faithful practices” (p. 9)

 

10        Practical theology is directed toward “faithful performance”

 

            Faithful performance always seeks a higher truth. Faithfulness is truth-seeking.

 

11        Practical theology is a theoretical discipline in that it “seeks to understand practice, to evaluate, to criticize; to look at the relationship between what is done and what is said or professed. At the same time it is also a deeply practical discipline, which does not only seek to understand the significance of practice for theology, but also recognizes as a primary goal the guiding and transforming of future practices which will inform and shape the life of faith” (pp. 11-12).

 

12        Practical Theology interprets situations so they can change in response to the divine life. 

a. it is a critical and prophetic role (p. 13)

b. seeks to complexify situations, to understand them in all their complexity (p. 13)

c. seeks to address the needs and problems of a situation so that it can manifest the divine life more fully (p. 14)

 

15        Practical Theology tries to understand and interpret situations.

a. tries to raise consciousness about the “previously hidden dimensions of everyday situations.”

 

16        Practical Theology is not merely an applied theology, applying theological convictions to situations.  Rather, it is focused upon the inherent good within a practice.

a. Pragmatic form of theology. The good of a practice is determined not by anything inherent to the practice, but only by the effect it has. We are only concerned with whether it ‘works’ the way we want, whether it has the effects we want. (p. 18)

b. The true telos of Christian practices is what happens within the practice. Practices such as prayer, friendship, hospitality are not to be “used” pragmatically. Rather, within the practices, the Reign of God is manifest more fully. The primary good of a practice is inherent to it. (p. 20).

 - Alasdair MacIntyre’s definition of practice, p. 21.

 

c.       Craig Dykstra and Dorothy Bass’ definition of Christian practices:

“Christian practices address needs that are basic to human existence as such, and they do so in ways that reflect God’s purposes for humankind. When they participate in such Christian practices people are taking part in God’s work of creation and new creation and thereby growing into a deeper knowledge of God and of creation. This is something that is necessarily done with other people, across generations and cultures.” (p. 22).

 

d.      “the efficacy of the practice (the good to which it is aimed), is not defined pragmatically by its ability to fulfill particular human needs (although it will include that), but by whether or not it participates faithfully in the divine redemptive mission.” (p. 22).

 

A Specific Model of Practical Theology Method (How practical theology operates. Its process)

Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology

 

65        not satisfied to leave theology as theory or understanding. Not ‘faith seeking understanding’.

            Bevans: ‘faith seeking intelligent action’.  Faith that enacts the Reign of God, the divine life.

 

            What is the method of practical theology: praxis model

 

67        Leonardo Boff:  the method is simple: discern what is implicit in situations, make it explicit, and integrate your learning for better practice.

 

            Presuppositions:

1.      Highest level of knowing is intelligent and responsible action

2.      Theology is inherently cultural

3.      Culture and theology always changes

4.      Culture is inherently good even though it is limited and fallible and sinful.

5.      God is always revealing the divine life. God is present and active and drawing creation

6.      Equality of men and women, all ethnicities and ages. Diversity is a blessing.

7.      Evil, sin, and suffering is a fact of existence, always to be taken into account.

8.      The movement of praxis is to intensify, to build on itself, to go deeper, to manifest more fully the divine life.

 

Cycle of the Praxis Model of Practical Theology:

1.      A situation of Committed action, already happening

2.      Understanding the situation/context more fully

a.       The necessity of theory within which to understand better. Theory is a structure of ideas that help us see the complexity in situations more clearly.

b.      The necessity of analysis by which to understand better. Analysis is our mental action that examines the complexity in situations.

3.      Action becomes more intentional. Practice becomes more intense.

 

Outcome: change in self, others, situation.

 

70         Criticism of praxis model

·         Marxist

·         Biblical selectivity

·         Preoccupation with social and structural sin, with oppression. Inattention to personal piety and evangelization, to orthodoxy and orthopathy.

 

The Praxis Model criticizes narrow theology:

·         Sentimental and Romantic

·         Individualistic

·         Unaware of cultural and societal determinants

·         Unaware of the power of systems: groups, institutions, societies, culture, etc.

·         Overly cognitive and abstract

·         Unconcerned with the outcomes (fruit) of action: what are the actual results of our action