General Description | Doctoral Program (The Purple Book) | Degree Programs | Center for Practical Theology at Boston University

1.1 General Description

Practical theology is that test within the theological curriculum whose task it is to describe, analyze, and interpretthe contemporary situation in order to identify

both ongoing and timely questions to which the Christian church must make strategic response
the various practices that embody the church's strategic response and in which is imbedded (though often uncritically) the Christian witness of faith, and
the contexts which shape those practices.

The questions, practices, and contexts to be addressed in practical theology include but are not limited to the issues involved in the nurture of congregations, the mission of the church in the world, the transmission of the Christian tradition to new cultural and social institutions, the church's worship of God, and matters of social justice and spiritual formation.

Practical theology, however, moves beyond this more descriptive moment toward the ongoing creative task of imagining and forming ever more effective and faithful Christian practices. In doing so, the discipline of practical theology requires not only an ability to think creatively about practices and about the various arts of ministry, but also an ability to think systematically and historically about the Christian faith and, indeed, about the very nature of the church so that practical theological research is never reduced to mere description, on the one hand, or a capitulation to practical considerations and contextual forces, on the other hand.

The doctoral program in practical theology at Boston University, therefore, is designed to prepare students

to understand and assess the contemporary situation,
to reflect historically and systematically on the church's witness of faith in that situation, and
September 23, 2008ian practice in that situation. This preparation,while it has a common structure and an ecclesiological center, requiresa diversityin focus that requires strong interdisciplinary skills and a highly integrative acumen.

The approach to practical theology followed by the practical theology faculty at Boston University School of Theology differs from those that emphasize method in practical theology by its focus on the problems to be addressed, with methods chosen so as to address the problems. It differs also from approaches that take practical theology to be a mere collection of the arts of ministry by its focus on the integrated interpretation of the church's witness, of the problems facing that witness both within and without the church, and of the roles that all the disciplines of theological education play in addressing the problems. This approach differs as well from the conceptions of a theological education that divide the disciplines into classical ones as forming a core and practical disciplines as merely "applying" the core.

The discipline of practical theology must be carried out in close relation to thSeptember 23, 2008hat is, how faithful people live out their faith in social, political, and cultural settings. Because it requires historical and theological analysis of the scriptures and tradition considered normative for the church in various situations, practical theology requires a substantial understanding of history and theology. At the same time, practical theology enters into dialogue with the social and natural sciences as well as the arts and humanities in order both to interpret contexts and practices as well as to think creatively about the development of new strategies, practices, and institutions. Thus, the field of practical theology is eminently interdisciplinary and involves contextual research both inside and outside of Christian congregations.

DEGREE PROGRAMS

Center for Practical Theology | School of Theology | Boston University | September 23, 2008