by Daniel Louw, President of IAPT
The conference was held in Manchester, United Kingdom, April 11-16, 2003. The theme of the conference was: " Theology and Public Life - Practical Theology in an Age of Pluralism"
Here
are a
few brief reflections on our conference in Manchester. A word of thanks to
Elaine Graham and her team. Manchester was indeed an experience in terms
of the interplay between theory formation and an exposure to the first
“artifacts” of the so called industrial revolution in the 18th
and 19th century.
The
aim of the conference was to
debate the issue of “public” and its link to a practical theological
ecclesiology. The opening address was delivered by the President, Marcel
Viau [Quebec, Canada] on: Doing Practical Theology in the Age of
Pluralism. His basic argument: in order to do practical theology in an
age of pluralism, a theological discourse should become an “artifact”,
i.e. the hermeneutics exercised by a theologian-artisan who uses
aesthetics to interpret the theological tradition.
There
were three plenary lectures: Locating Public Theology [Will Storrar,
Edinburgh]; Public Theology in Manchester and Salford. [Dr John Atheron -
Canon, Manchester Cathedral; Dr Chris Baker - William Temple Foundation;
Prof Elaine Graham - Professor in Social and Pastoral Theology /
Manchester]; and Public Theology in Global Context; [panel: Dr Elizabeth
Tapia - Union Theological Seminary, Philippines; Dr Abraham Berinyuu,
Tamale, Ghana; Dr Daniel Schipani, Mennonite Biblical Seminary, USA].
* Public Theology and Transformative Pedagogy
* Public Theology and the Academy
* Social Exclusion and Social Justice
* Theology and Civil Society
* Spirituality and the public realm
* Public Theology in a Plural Society
* Public
Theology and Popular Religion
In
order to foster a debate on the notions of “public” and “praxis”
in a practical theological reflection, I share a few personal impressions
in retrospect of the conference.
1. It is clear that the concept “public” is difficult to determine. What became clear is that public is related to: relevancy, engagement, inclusiveness, encounter, open and critical discourse, and discernment. The task of a public theology is therefore to identify and address the deep underlying issues that are often too painful or awkward f or politicians and others to address in public debate, and to identify the coming agenda, the issues that people will be wrestling with in future. It is an attempt to articulate in the public square or market place, its convictions about truth, values/norms [goodness], meaning and the ultimate. It incorporates a true discernment in order to assess life and social issues in the light of the gospel [salvation]. Discernment means putting the events, choice and responses of today within the frame of the church’s understanding of the kingdom of God, taking the long view, with attitudes and understanding shaped by faith and imbued with hope. In the words of Duncan Forrester [Truthful Action, Explorations in Practical Theology: Edinburgh: Clark]:”…public theology is rather a theology, talk about God, which claims to point to publicly accessible truth, to contribute to public discussion by witnessing to a truth which is relevant to what is going on in the world and to the pressing issues facing people and societies today”.
Some of the burning issues, as identified during the conference, are:
· A new search for spirituality within processes of secularization
· Globalisation and its impact on local communities and economics
· Urbanization and the creation of a humane environment
· Social justice and the problem of social exclusion, marginalization and stigmatization
· The interreligious debate
·
Violence,
the misuse of power and the notion of human dignity
2. In terms of theory
formation and methodology, the academic issue at stake was how to
understand “practical” without ending up with mere practicalities and
skills. At stake was the question: is all of theology “practical”, or
is practical theology only a vehicle for other theological disciplines? Is
practical theology only a functional endeavor, i.e. an attempt to apply
what has been formulated by the other theological disciplines?
Within
the academy, action theory is determining to a great extend the
understanding of “practical”. With reference to Paul Ricoeur, action
has to do with discourse and reason. Action is therefore more than merely
behavior. Praxis therefore refers to a collection of actions dependent on
discourse and reason. Five fundamental actions can be identified: doing,
speaking, narrating, imputing and the naming of God.
Hans
van der Ven [Nijmegen] added to these fundamental actions, five formal
aspects of praxis:
* Beliefs about what is the case
* Expectations - what we hope for
* Goals [combining expectations and beliefs]
* Actions - routes how to reach the goal
* Assessment
- how we feel and whether we have reached the goals
To his mind, the most fundamental action in a practical theological ecclesiology is the naming of God within the context of suffering / theodicy.
Within
the academy there is a growing consensus that at the heart of practical
theology are four basic tasks:
The descriptive-empirical task. This task focuses on the investigation of religious praxis in the present and implies a reflection on the living, human document. What is going on?
The
interpretive task: Why is this going on? This attempt is to place
empirical research in a more comprehensive explanatory framework.
The
normative task: the focus on the construction of theological and
ethical norms that can be used to assess critically the contemporary
religious praxis
The
pragmatic task: the development of rules of art, open-ended
guidelines that can assist those who are leading or participating in a
particular form of religious praxis.
One
can conclude that two fields of research have been identified as objects
for research in practical theology: communicative actions and the
religious praxis. The implication is a paradigm shift from an ecclesial
approach: the actions of the community of faith and ministry to the field
of religious practices. R. Ganzevoort [2002:39] calls this practice the
human praxis of faith. With regard to praxis, JA van der Ven [2002:21]
adds to the empirical dimension also the imperative component of
normativity, i.e. the teleological question relating to our personal life:
who we are and what we strife for; the deontological question relating to
our responsibility: what is right and what are we obliged to do?; the
pragmatic or utilistic question relating to effectiveness and efficiency:
which action will produce a teleologically desirable and a deontologically
obligatory result or outcome.
The
following critical question should be posed: but is praxis not more than
merely action, communication, norms/values and function/strategy [practices]?
What is the place of ontology with regard to praxis? Are human beings not
more than merely action? These questions lead to the interesting topic of
the place of being in practical theology. Reason and discourse are determined by
internalized values and norms. Attitude and aptitude are basic components
in actions - are they not perhaps the existential ingredients which give
our being human a very specific existential quality? In a qualitative and
ontological approach to “practical, the human quest for meaning and our
relationship with the ultimate become important spiritual and theological
issues.
In
terms of future discussions my suggestion is that praxis in
practical theology refers to:
* A hermeneutical
and ethical dimension - intention, meaning and discourse as embodied
in acts of communication and transformation, and determined by norms and
values.
* An ontological
and existential dimension: being as determined by belief systems and
meaning.
* A functional
and pragmatic dimension: practice as manifested in the efficiency of
planning, design, models and strategy [ministry].
* A spiritualistic
dimension: the impact of the encounter between God and human beings and
the implication for human dignity and the naming of God.
Van
der Ven JA 2002: An Empirical or a normative approach to
practical-theological
research. In: JET, Vol 15.2, pp 5 - 33, Leiden/Boston: Brill
Ganzevoort,
R. 2002 WYSIWYG. Social
construction in Practical Theological Epistemology. In:
JET, Vol 15:2, pp 34 - 42, Leiden/Boston: Brill.