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ABSTRACT
The ‘possibilities of friendship within intellectual life’, and the idea of ‘home’ are at the heart of this account of my journey as a practical theologian. The account consists first of some autobiographical reflections to set the context(s), and second of some reflections on the substance of my work as a practical theologian. I reflect on the nature of the discipline of Practical Theology as I have experienced, practised, and taught it, alongside the wider national and international community of practice and scholarship of which I have been part. Key areas which are central to that experience, practice, and teaching are highlighted. Adult Theological Education is connected to a consideration of the dialectic of tradition and experience; research into the life and work of John Ruskin offers new ways of thinking on the work of a practical theologian; engagement with the development and implementation of a Professional Doctorate in Practical Theology richly brings together disparate elements of a long journey. At every point, in different ways, companionship and community of practice emerge as crucial. The work of ‘finding a critical space’ is fundamental to Practical Theology; and it involves the modification and the rediscovery of ‘home’.
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Notes
1 Quoted with permission.
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Notes on contributors
Zoë Bennett
Zoë Bennett was until 2018 the Director of Postgraduate Studies in Pastoral Theology at Anglia Ruskin University and the Cambridge Theological Federation, where her teaching and research interests centred on the use of the Bible in Practical Theology, Adult Theological Education, and Feminist Practical Theology. She is currently a Fellow at Wesley House in Cambridge.