Abstract:
This article takes an autobiographical approach to the development of practical theology as a
discipline over the past 30 years, with particular attention to my own context of the United
Kingdom (UK). The unfolding of my own intellectual story in relation to key issues within the
wider academic discourse provides an opportunity to reflect on some of the predominant
themes and trends: past, present and future. Changing nomenclature, from ‘pastoral studies’
to ‘practical theology’, indicates how the discipline has moved from regarding itself as the
application of theory into practice, into a more performative and inductive epistemology. This
emphasis continues to the present day and foregrounds the significance of the human context
and the realities of lived experience, including narrative and autobiography. Whilst the
methodological conundrums of relating experience to tradition and theory to practice continue,
further challenges are beckoning, including religious pluralism, and so the article closes by
surveying the prospects for a multicultural practical theology.
Description:
Prof. Dr Elaine Graham is
participating in the research
project, ‘Gender Studies and
Practical Theology Theory
Formation’, directed by Prof.
Dr Yolanda Dreyer,
Department of Practical
Theology, Faculty of
Theology, University of
Pretoria.
