Article contents
Graceful Work: Practical Theological Study of Spirituality
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2014
Abstract
This article calls for closer conversation between two growing academic fields: the scholarly study of spirituality and practical theology. Practical theology investigates the contemporary situation as it relates to questions of faith, ministry, and public religious leadership. Practical theology loses its center when it neglects the critical study of spirituality. Practical theological study of spirituality can help to integrate the three dominant methods in spirituality scholarship: the anthropological, the historical-contextual, and the theological approaches. The integration of these three approaches promotes a mutually critical correlation between the Christian tradition and the contemporary situation. Reflection on the practices of ministry students and teachers further reveals the importance of practical theological study of spirituality, which should inform the practice of teaching, the conception of theological education, and the formation of ministry students.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The College Theology Society 2000
References
1 See McGinn, Bernard, “The Letter and the Spirit: Spirituality as an Academic Discipline,” Christian Spirituality Bulletin 1/2 (Fall 1993): 3.Google Scholar
2 On the relationship between spiritual direction and pastoral care, see Barry, William and Connolly, William, The Practice of Spiritual Direction (San Francisco: Harper-SanFrancisco, 1986), 11.Google Scholar
3 For an example of practical theological work on the family debate, see Browning, Donet al., From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1997).Google Scholar My students at Boston University School of Theology completed practical theological research on the Russian church (Inna Naletova) and the air force chaplaincy (Paul Cannon).
4 Schneiders, Sandra, “A Hermeneutical Approach to the Study of Christian Spirituality,” Christian Spirituality Bulletin 2/1 (Spring 1994) 13Google Scholar
5 See Browning, Don S, A Fundamental Practical Theology (MinneapolisFortress, 1991)Google Scholar
6 van der Ven, Johannes A., Dreyer, Jaco S., and Pieterse, Hendrik J., “Religious Consciousness in a Transformative Perspective,” International Journal of Practical Theology 1 (1997): 111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7 Browning, , A Fundamental Practical Theology, 36.Google Scholar
8 Pieterse, Hendrik, “Practical Theology in South Africa,” International Journal of Practical Theology 2 (1998): 164.Google Scholar
9 Schillebeeckx, Edward, Church: The Human Story of God (New York: Crossroad, 1990), 30–31.Google Scholar
10 Van Ness, Peter H., ed., Spirituality and the Secular Quest (New YorkCrossroad, 1996).Google Scholar
11 Paulsell, Stephanie, “Honoring the Body” in Bass, Dorothy C, ed., Practicing Our Faith, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997), 18.Google Scholar
12 Norris, Kathleen, The Quotidian Mysteries Laundry, Liturgy and “Women's Work” (New York: Paulist, 1998).Google Scholar
13 Hosmer, Rachel, “Review Article Current Literature in Christian Spirituality,” Anglican Theological Review 66 (1984): 425.Google Scholar
14 McGinn, , “The Letter and the Spirit: Spirituality as an Academic Discipline,” 5Google Scholar
15 Schneiders, Sandra, “Theology and Spirituality,” Horizons 13/2 (1986): 266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16 See, e.g., McGinn's, The Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century (New York: Crossroad, 1991)Google Scholar and The Growth of Mysticism: Gregory the Great through the 12th Century (New York: Crossroad, 1994).Google Scholar
17 See Sheldrake, Philip, Spirituality & History Questions of Interpretation and Method (New York: Crossroad, 1992).Google Scholar
18 von Balthasar, Hans Urs, “Spirituality” in Explorations in Theology I: The Word Made Flesh (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989)Google Scholar, cited in McGinn, , “The Letter and the Spirit,” 5.Google Scholar
19 Schneiders, Sandra M., “The Study of Christian Spirituality: Contours and Dynamics of a Discipline,” Christian Spirituality Bulletin 6 (Spring 1998): 6.Google Scholar
20 McGuire, Meredith B., “Mapping Contemporary American Spirituality: A Sociological Perspective,” Christian Spirituality Bulletin 5/1 (Spring 1997): 3.Google Scholar
21 See Browning, , A Fundamental Practical Theology, 47–58.Google Scholar
22 Tracy, David, “Traditions of Spiritual Practice and the Practice of Theology,” Theology Today 55/2 (07 1998): 239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23 Ibid.
24 See McGinn, Bernard, “The Letter and the Spirit,” 7Google Scholar and Schneiders, , “A Hermeneutical Approach to the Study of Christian Spirituality,” 13.Google Scholar Schneiders regards the practice of spiritual disciplines as an appropriate part of the “formative” study of spirituality, which she restricts to seminary education and practical masters programs.
25 Tracy, , “Traditions of Spiritual Practice and the the Practice of Theology,” 238.Google Scholar See also Groome, Thomas, Educating For Life: A Spiritual Vision for Every Teacher and Parent (Allen, TX: Thomas More Press, 1998).Google Scholar
26 Dykstra, Craig, “Reconceiving Practice,” in Wheeler, Barbara G. and Farley, Edward, eds., Shifting Boundaries: Contextual Approaches to the Structure of Theological Education (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1991), 45.Google Scholar
27 Miles, Margaret R., Practicing Christianity: Critical Perspectives for an Embodied Spirituality (New York: Crossroad, 1988), 90.Google Scholar For another argument about the importance of understanding the historical and communal roots of practice, see Dykstra.
28 Wuthnow, Robert, After Heaven: Spirituality in America since the 1950s (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar See esp. 7.
29 Weil, Simone in Waiting for God (New York: Harper & Row, 1951), 105.Google Scholar
30 Ibid., 107.
31 Ibid., 112.
32 Ibid., 112-13.
- 1
- Cited by