Abstract:
This essay appraises the history of the International Academy of Practical Theology (IAPT),
arguing that competing aims have pulled it in different directions. The essay arose initially out
of a roundtable on IAPT at an international congress in São Leopoldo, Brazil, in preparation for
the next biennial conference there in 2019. Why is there a need for the IAPT? What are some of
its developments? Why is it important for South America and Brazil? In response, the essay
suggests that the IAPT has struggled to sustain at least two prominent commitments – a desire
to enhance practical theology’s scholarly visibility and acumen and a real need to become a
genuinely international organisation in terms of representation and inclusion. A secondary
argument woven through the essay is that collegial friendships across complicated differences
of location and perspective have the capacity to moderate and even heal conflicts.
Description:
Prof. Dr Miller-McLemore 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.
