Opening the Field of Practical Theology

Opening the Field of Practical Theology introduces students to practical theology through an examination of fifteen different approaches—ranging from feminist to liberationist, Roman Catholic to evangelical, Asian American to Latino/a. After an introduction to the field of practical theology and its broad range of practice today, the book features chapters written by leading experts in the discipline. Each chapter has an identical structure to facilitate comparison, covering historical context, key features and figures, norms and sources of authority, theory-practice, contexts, interdisciplinary considerations, areas of current and future research, and suggested readings.Opening the Field of Practical Theology is an ideal introduction to the field, highlighting the diverse ways practical theology is engaged today.

This valuable volume provides an introduction, 15 contextual essays, and a conclusion by experts in practical theology. The book succeeds in 'opening the field,' recognizing the discipline's provisionality and permeability as open-ended and conversational in nature. To aid comparisons, each chapter is structured with the same eight key features. These begin with historical context and proceed through themes such as norms and source of authority, views of the theory-practice relationship, interdisciplinary conversation partners, and areas of current and future research. . . .The editors identify 11 focal concerns that are characteristic of practical theology and that forge an overall unity for the field. Yet the ways practical theologians put these together result in numerous trajectories or approaches. As Stephen Bevans says, 'In practical theology one begins from an experience or a practice.' This perspective leads to the distinctive identities of the chapters, which cover practical theology as it pertains to African Americans, Evangelicals, feminists/womanists, Roman Catholics, and US Latinos/Latinas. This overview approach should be very helpful for readers at all levels. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers., With the publication of Opening the Field of Practical Theology: An Introduction, Kathleen A. Cahalan and Gordon S. Mikoski have deepened and expanded the tent with a superb collection of essays. The book deepens out understanding by inviting fourteen different authors to examine common features of practical theology from diverse perspectives in an accessible and systematic way. . . .The structure is genius because it makes it possible to read the book in a number of different ways. . . .The endnotes add to the aim of this excellent new resource: they open the field of practical theology., Opening the Field of Practical Theology offers practical theology students and teachers abundant access points into studying, teaching, and engaging diverse practices. This book will be required in doctoral studies in practical theology, will support life-long reflection on ministerial practices and vocational development, and will empower collaboration among diverse practical theologians. . . .Opening the Field of Practical Theology invites readers to enter practical theology’s convergences (named in the conclusion as valuing self-reflection, context, and interdisciplinarity) and divergences (named in the conclusion as differing interpretations of human experiences, historical contexts, and normative sources). The editors also encourage readers to play with the order of the chapters, underlying commitments, organization provided by the common template, and additional convergences and divergences. . . .[T]he volume affirms practical theology’s robust role in formative theological study, carrying on a long-standing conversation among scholars that is itself open to new voices and perspectives. Opening the Field of Practical Theology provides an invaluable contribution to a field of study that has opened multiple significant future trajectories., Particularly noteworthy is the clear treatment given by each contributor to perhaps the most heavily-contested aspect of practical theology: the nature and status of sources of authority. Here the comparisons made possible between Catholic, Protestant, and evangelical positions, as well as the insights from a number of liberationist perspectives, will allow students to come to some necessary clarity about a key methodological question, clarity that is grounded in the voices of respected representatives of particular traditions., Opening the Field of Practical Theology maps the complex terrain of this field as astutely as anything in print.  Its respectful attention to diversity of ethnic and religious contexts and appropriate methods for them is to be applauded.  Happily the shared template across the contributions makes it feel like an integrated volume and not simply a collection of essays.  Best of all, the authors come across as living theologians whose own stories and contexts matter.  This volume not only talks about practical theology, but smartly models it.  Bravo!

Kathleen A. Cahalan is professor of theology at Saint John’s School of Theology and a past president of the Association of Practical Theology. She is the author of several books, including Introducing the Practice of Ministry.Gordon S. Mikoski is associate professor of Christian Education and director of the Master’s Studies Program at Princeton Theological Seminary. He serves as editor for Theology Today and is a past president of the Association of Practical Theology and an ordained Presbyterian minister.