CPT Today
CPT Today is the blog of The Center for Practical Theology. Here you’ll find posts under the categories of Book Reviews, News and Events, Opportunities, Perspectives, Practical Theology Profiles, and Research Reflections. Interested in submitting? Please see our submission guidelines and feel free to be in touch with Rebekah Neuberger at cpt@bu.edu with any questions!
Dr. Courtney Goto publishes ‘Taking on Practical Theology: The Idolization of Context and the Hope of Community’
Congratulations to Dr. Courtney Goto on her recently published Taking on Practical Theology: The Idolization of Context and the Hope of Community. Published with Brill, in Taking on Practical Theology, Dr. Goto "explores the regnant paradigm that shapes knowledge production and that preserves power, privilege, and historic communal injury even as scholars intend to enlighten and transform communities." Congratulations, Dr. Goto!
Personal Money Management Seminar presented by Ted Daniels
The Center for Practical Theology and Boston University School of Theology are pleased to welcome Mr. Ted Daniels, President of the Society for Financial Education and Professional Development, Inc. (SFEPD), to lead a Personal Money Management Seminar. The seminar will be held in the School of Theology Community Center (B23/24) on Monday, November 5, 2018. Pizza and drinks will be served at 12pm, and the seminar will be presented between 12:30-2pm. Please RSVP to cpt@bu.edu, and we hope many of you can join for this valuable opportunity! The seminar is sponsored by the TD Charitable Foundation, and is presented as part of the School of Theology's Economic Challenges Facing Future Ministers initiative.
Established 1998, SFEPD is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance the level of financial and economic literacy of individuals and households in the United States and to promote professional development at the early stages of career development through mid-level management. Under Mr. Daniels's leadership, SFEPD has become one of the leading financial literacy and professional development organizations in the United States. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the 2009 Chairman's Award for Excellence and Innovation in Financial Education in recognition of his work providing financial literacy training to students of historically black colleges and universities. He also served on the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy under Presidents George W. Bush and Barak Obama.
A Look Back: The 2017 CPT Annual Lecture
In 2017, we were thrilled to welcome Dr. Elizabeth Conde-Frazier as the Guest Lecturer for the Tenth Annual Lecture. Dr. Elizabeth Conde-Frazier presented on "Wild Child Practical Theology," and doctoral candidate Yara González-Justiniano and Dr. Rady Roldán-Figueroa, STH Associate Professor of the History of Christianity, responded to Dr. Conde-Frazier's presentation. We were pleased to welcome our colleagues at BU School of Theology, Boston Theological Institute schools, and from the greater Boston community. A YouTube video of the lecture is available here. Thank you to the Brown Lecture fund for their generous support of this event. We are so grateful to Dr. Conde-Frazier, Ms. González-Justiniano, and Dr. Roldán-Figueroa for sharing their insights with us. A slideshow of pictures is included here as well.
Next Wednesday, we'll welcome Dr. Kathleen Cahalan to present the Center for Practical Theology's 11th Annual Lecture. The lecture will be held in the STH Community Center (B23/24), beginning with a reception at 5.30pm. We look forward to seeing many of you next Wednesday! In anticipation of next week, we hope you'll enjoy this look back at last year's incredible lecture from Dr. Elizabeth Conde-Frazier.
A Pursued Justice: Black Preaching from the Great Migration to Civil Rights (Homiletic Book Review)
Jackie Blue, a doctoral candidate in Practical Theology at BU School of Theology, recently reviewed A Pursued Justice: Black Preaching from the Great Migration to Civil Rights by Kenyatta Gilbert. Please see the beginning of Blue's review below and visit the Homiletics website for the full review
Homiletic is a scholarly forum in homiletics and a review of publications in religious communication. It is a freely accessible, peer-reviewed journal. Homiletic is sponsored by the Academy of Homiletics.
Kenyatta R. Gilbert. A Pursued Justice: Black Preaching from the Great Migration to Civil Rights. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2016. 224 pages. $39.95.
Review Excerpt
What does it mean to preach prophetically? This is the question Kenyatta R. Gilbert,
Associate Professor of Homiletics at Howard University School of Divinity, asks in his second project, A Pursued Justice: Black Preaching from the Great Migration to Civil Rights. Building upon his initial work (The Journey and the Promise, 2011) in which he introduced the concept of trivocal preaching, defined as preaching “marked by three constitutive orientations the scriptural voice of prophet, priest, and sage” (Gilbert 2011, 11), Gilbert extends his research with a contextually focused, in-depth analysis into the first voice, the prophetic--more specifically prophetic Black preaching. More
Call for Submissions: Practical Matters Journal
Call for Submissions to Practical Matters
Issue 12 Call for Submissions
New Directions in Religious Practices and Practical Theology: Revolutions and Re-Imaginations
Deadline: December 1, 2018
practicalmattersjournal.org/submissions
At the nexus of practical theology and the study of religious practices, what is the “state of the field”—and where are we going?
The past ten years have seen a blossoming of scholarship in religious practices and practical theology. Practical Matters has served as a meeting ground for these conversations across borders of methodology, religious tradition, and academic training. Reflecting on the field and our own work, what now animates the study of religious practices—and where do we go next? Where are we re-imagining and theory and method; where is there excitement for new movements in scholarship? Where do our revolutions take us back full circle to old themes, forgotten conversations, or neglected ways of approaching religious practice and practical theology that can be taken up in a new light?
Practical Matters is now accepting submissions for Issue 12. The issue will feature articles on the theme “New Directions in Religious Practices and Practical Theology: Revolutions and Re-Imaginations.” Questions to be addressed may include but are not limited to:
- Methodology: how do we continue to deepen existing methods and explore new modes of inquiry? Where do we see innovation within and outside of ethnographic methods, which have been central to religious practices research? What might be the role of documentary film, literary analysis, oral history, archival work, and/or partnerships with cognitive sciences?
- How are we guided by theory? Is practice theory still a primary thought-partner? Where might there be fruitful dialogue with other theoretical conversations?
- State of the relationship between the study of religious practices and practical theology: Practical Matters is designed to bring these together. How has the relationship grown and/or changed? How does interdisciplinarity more broadly continue to play a role in this work?
- Scholar-activism, and the relationship between the classroom/research conversation and the wider world: how should we handle this balance, and how is this best supported?
- How do new directions in religious practices themselves (i.e. secularization, migrations, new religious movements) impact the way we study and think about them?
In all submissions, we are particularly interested in work that shows as much as it tells—i.e. compelling use of exciting theories, methods, and conversations that help flesh out meta-commentary.
We invite contributions on or from any religious or spiritual tradition as well as from any theoretical position or discipline. The journal includes both peer-reviewed articles (Features and Analyzing Matters) as well as non-peer reviewed content that presents the thoughtful reflections of teachers and practitioners (Practicing Matters and Teaching Matters). Practical Matters accepts submissions that incorporate a variety of media and genres.
Submissions are accepted and published on a rolling basis throughout the year. For consideration in Issue 12, submissions must be received by December 1, 2018. For more information, please see practicalmattersjournal.org/submissions or email pm.issue.editor@emory.edu.
A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom (Perspectivas Book Review)
Yara González-Justiniano, a doctoral candidate in Practical Theology at BU School of Theology, recently reviewed A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom, by Teresa Delgado. Please see the beginning of González-Justiniano's review below and visit the Perspectivas website for the full review.
Perspectivas is the online peer-reviewed multilingual (Spanish, Portuguese and English) subscription journal of the Hispanic Theological Initiative.
A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom, by Teresa Delgado. Palgrave McMillan, 2017. xv + 204 pages. $99.99. Additional formats available from Palgrave MacMillan.
Review excerpt
Teresa Delgado’s book, A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom, is a contribution to liberation and decolonial theology, but above all it is an invitation to further the conversation of Puerto Rican identity in order to elaborate a robust Puerto Rican theology. Readers will quickly appreciate that Delgado projects the voice of un pueblo (a people) in her narrative. This work challenges the audience, especially Puerto Ricans in the Diaspora, to reconcile their identities as both Puerto Rican and American in ways that promulgate liberation. Delgado holds Puerto Rican theologians accountable for dormirse en las pajas (falling asleep in the hay), that is, she charges them with complacency in not addressing issues of colonialism and identity from a Puerto Rican theological perspective.
Job Posting: Assistant Professor, Practical Theology and Religious Education
Fordham University invites applications for a full-time tenure track position at the rank of Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education (GRE). Areas of specialization are open. Teaching will include hybrid (campus and digital learning) formats. Applicants must have completed the Ph.D. by May 2019. GRE seeks a highly qualified, diverse applicant pool and especially encourages members of underrepresented groups to apply. Successful candidates will have a knowledge of and a commitment to the goals of Jesuit education. Faculty appointment will begin in August 2019.
Fordham is an independent, Catholic University in the Jesuit tradition that welcomes applications from all backgrounds. Applicants should submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, a statement of teaching philosophy/interest, and three letters of recommendation to Dr. Tom Beaudoin, Search Committee Chair, at tbeaudoin@fordham.edu. Materials will only be accepted electronically. Review of applications will begin on 1 November. Fordham University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution.
11th Annual Lecture for The Center for Practical Theology Announced
You are warmly invited to The Center for Practical Theology's Eleventh Annual Lecture and Reception on Wednesday, October 24, 2018. Dr. Kathleen Cahalan, Professor of Practical Theology at St. John's University School of Theology & Seminary, will present on "The Grammar of Vocation: Changing the Way We Talk about Our Callings." The reception begins at 5:30pm with the lecture following. For those of you who cannot attend, we hope you'll be present in spirit via the Livestream. We hope to see you in October!
September Session of FIGS for Christ Initiative
The Center for Practical Theology is pleased to co-sponsor the FIGS for Christ Initiative (Faith & Finance, Inquiry & Identity, Guidance & Governance, Support & Sustainability), a series of workshops exploring collaboration, enrichment and growth for pastors and their lay leadership teams, as well as for contextual education students hoping to serve in pastoral or congregational settings. Rev. Stacy Emerson and Nancy Sayer will lead segments on Stewardship and Finance and Conflict During Times of Transition. We will also engage in times of spiritual practice and worship, a reminder that each of these aspects of church life are ministries that enhance the life and vitality of our congregations. This endeavor will prepare future leaders for some of the challenges they may encounter. All are welcome!
Date: Saturday September 29, 2018
Time: 9:30- 4pm
Location: First Baptist Church in Needham (MA)
RSVP at this link!
2018 Association of Practical Theology Biennial Review
In April 2018, students from the Advanced Research Seminar for Practical Theology, along with Professor Claire Wolfteich, attended the 2018 Association of Practical Theology Biennial at Yale Divinity School. Several doctoral students presented papers, and we are excited to share the following reflection on the weekend from from doctoral student Jasmin Figueroa. More