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Graceful Work: Practical Theological Study of Spirituality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2014

Claire Wolfteich*
Affiliation:
Boston University

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
Copyright
Copyright © The College Theology Society 2000

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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

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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

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31 Ibid., 112.

32 Ibid., 112-13.