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Document Details : Title: Reflecteren op wat het volk Gods doet Subtitle: Praktische theologie in de 21e eeuw Author(s): GÄRTNER, Stefan Journal: Tijdschrift voor Theologie Volume: 51 Issue: 1 Date: 2011 Pages: 76-87 DOI: 10.2143/TVT.51.1.3203372 Abstract : As context-related science, practical theology will have to face the expansion of its research object. The borderline between ecclesial/pastoral practices and human religious/philosophical practices has become unstable. Practical theology can respond to this by realising that it is reflecting on the practice of the people of God. This term encompasses more than the members of the church. God has called everyone to be a part of this people. It is uncertain whether the institutional church shares this broad view. There are signs that in late modern society, this institution has withdrawn into a shell. The expansion of practical theology’s potential research object coincides with the rise of a multiplicity of methodologies. Rather than spontaneously seeing it as an action science, some representatives now consider it to be a perception science. It focuses on the question how religious phenomena can be adequately analysed in late modern society. Social sciences’ qualitative and quantitative methods alone are no longer sufficient. They need the enlargement that cultural hermeneutics, phenomenology, semiotics and other can provide. Interdisciplinarity in practical theology is a related issue. Some argue for a bipolar model for contact with other sciences, because the internal theological perspective differs from the external. This is tantamount to a three-track methodology that includes empirical analysis, interpretation within a theological framework and change-oriented reflection. There is also a multiplicity of views on practical theology’s internal structure and a variety of paradigms. On top of all this, the discipline has become divided into subdisciplines. Even within one of these, it is no simple matter to offer a status quaestionis of practical theology. This raises the urgent question of the unity of this discipline. One place where it is sought is in the underlying structure that unifies the subdisciplines. Another answer is to focus on the pastor’s function. This latter option has gained in popularity, but risks reverting to an earlier phase in practical theology’s history. |
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