Abstract:
The challenge of working with metatheoretical assumptions in a postmodern
situation of a plurality of scientific-theoretical approaches is taken up in this article.
The question whether the researcher must, in a practical-theological study, begin
with theory analysis first or with praxis analysis first, is discussed. In sermon analysis
with a grounded theory, abductive approach, the question is whether we have
to begin with a blank mind. In order to answer this question the theory-praxis
relationship is discussed. This leads to the argument of the article that wherever we
begin the researcher cannot work without a theological perspective and in the case
of homiletics, without a homiletical-theoretical framework.
