Keeping Contact: traditions and trajectories of British and Irish practical theology as evidenced in the history of BIAPT’s journal

ABSTRACT

This paper reflects research commissioned by the British and Irish Association for Practical Theology (BIAPT) and the Contact Pastoral Trust to investigate the history of the journal that BIAPT began sponsoring in 1999. The research used interviews with former editors to inform analysis of the archive and highlight changing emphases and key transitions. Accompanied by a timeline available on the BIAPT website, the article explores the origins and significant moments in the journal’s development, focusing on the evolving nature and identity of practical theology by looking at traditions and trajectories of the discipline. It argues that theological concern with the human lies at the heart of practical theology.

KEYWORDS:

• Contact journal
• Practical Theology journal
• Practical Theology discipline
• humanity
• dialogue

Acknowledgements

The project team of Helen Cameron, Andrew Rogers and Nicola Slee – representing the Contact Pastoral Trust and BIAPT – was invaluable in supporting the research. I am also particularly grateful to the former editors both for their willingness to be interviewed and for their work in sustaining and developing the journal during the course of its history. Current editor Nigel Rooms provided valuable comments on the paper at the 25th anniversary BIAPT conference.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 The digital archive is accessible via Practical Theology online.

2 Lord (1964, 20). This brief contribution indicates the breadth of the conversation about pastoral caring engendered by Contact.

3 For an insight into the significance of Naomi Mitchison as a contributor to Contact, see Jenni Calder’s contribution to the Dangerous Women Project at http://dangerouswomenproject.org/2016/09/25/naomi-mitchison/, accessed 25/08/19.

4 https://digital.nls.uk/propaganda/calder/index.html, accessed 25th June 2019.

5 ‘Contributors’, Contact, 22 (1968), 30.

6 The date ranges are those during which each body is listed as a sponsoring organisation.

7 Margaret Allan was a Church of Scotland Deaconess and founding member of the SPA. She was a leading figure in the work of the Davidson Clinic for Medical Psychotherapy, providing low cost access to psychotherapy.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the British and Irish Association of Practical Theology and the Contact Pastoral Trust.

Notes on contributors

Stephen B. Roberts

Stephen Roberts, PhD, FHEA, is an Anglican Priest, Tutor in Practical Theology and Mission at the South Wales Baptist College, and Honorary Lecturer at Cardiff University. He has particular interests in inter-religious dialogue, chaplaincy, and the relationship between theology and music.