This issue of Practical Theology has been brought forward from later in the year so that the 2021 Conference Issue which discusses Eco-theology has more time to prepare the articles for publication in the autumn. We present eight contributions here which we have grouped geographically in the first instance, from Hong Kong, England and North America. The full breadth of Christian practical theology is once again on display; chaplaincy in Interfaith settings; public and contextual theology; the ministry of women; loneliness; and, a first for a while I think, addressing science and faith; leadership and finally two articles engaging in very different ways with preaching. There is also, I notice a good balance between academic and practitioner perspectives – something we constantly aim for in the journal. I’m pleased, also to include some poetry for the first time in a while.
In the lead article, Simon Shui-Man Kwan faces head-on the decolonisation question Interfaith Spiritual Care (ISC) for chaplains in his own context of Hong Kong. Kwan reviews the extant literature and contemporary approaches to ISC and while appreciating them also finds them wanting. They are too embedded in western Christianity with its assumptions of superiority which still linger, hidden inside what look like benevolent methodologies. We are treated to a sophisticated case study on how hospitality works in the Asian setting where the real threat of Christ and the Christian care-giver to the prevailing religion and culture has to be taken much more seriously. A better image for the chaplain in these circumstances is that of ‘resident alien’ or ‘visiting stranger’. Thus, the article will be of great value to many chaplains who offer care to those whose belief system they do not share and will likely stimulate debate in academic reflection on chaplaincy and amongst practitioners. I also hope that some of the wisdom showcased here could return to critique our western thought and practice as we become more and more a minority. And since we are increasingly addressing the question of decolonisation in the journal the piece makes a significant contribution there too.
I am very pleased to be able to lay alongside Simon Kwan’s article a reflection on Hong Kong itself from a doctoral student, Huen Wai Yan, not least because the questions she is asking are, not surprisingly, related to Kwan’s. Many of us have watched from afar the changes in Hong Kong over recent decades, as it is increasingly subsumed by mainland China and so it is extremely helpful to have an emic theological viewpoint on that unique city for the first time in the journal. Yan uses two theoretical conversation partners to develop her contextual theology – Miroslav Wolf and Homi Bhabha. She demonstrates the negative effects of the erosion of identity from Wolf and how Bhabha’s notion of ‘vernacular cosmopolitanism’ can aid Hong Kongers in finding a new sense of identity in the world they now inhabit via forgiveness, commitment and love. This intense theological work establishes the agility of practical theology in dealing with new situations which arise – which they are all the time – as we, in Europe have recently learnt.
Turning to the first of three articles from England, women were first ordained in the Church of England in 1994 and very quickly most dioceses appointed a woman to represent their voice within the diocese – an Adviser in Women’s Ministry. It might well be asked whether such posts are still relevant, nearly three decades later. And also, whether the presence of women in priesthood and leadership is normalised now alongside the attainment of equal status in the institution (a possibility which surely must be relevant in many other denominations). Susy Brouard had already completed her practical theology doctorate when she began her ordination training in the Church of England. The skills she had learnt on the doctorate were then put to excellent use in researching what these Diocesan Advisers in Women’s Ministry do now and if they are still necessary. She presents her findings in the next paper. The Church of England remains patriarchal, she finds and by no means have these specialised roles passed their ‘sell by date’. In a model practical theology project, Brouard offers a ‘theology of practice’ for such Advisers in ‘advocating, attending and embodying’. I suspect any group of interested stakeholders in the ministry of women would benefit from reading this article together and reflecting on it.
Someone reminded me recently of Rainer Maria Rilke’s advice in Letters to a Young Poet to ‘live the questions’ and the next article is a good example of taking that advice. It starts in an ordinary Church of England parish in the Catholic (or more ‘sacramental’) tradition which notices a number of its members have jobs in what might be described as broadly scientifically based fields. Connecting to a wider research project on the receptivity of science in congregational life the researchers asked the rather open-ended question, ‘is science a sacrament?’ knowing that the question itself could also easily be questioned. The question is then ‘lived’ through the research participants and data collected as they visit workplaces together and discuss their faith and work in group sessions. What is interesting to me is that while beauty, awe and wonder are affirmed as connecting points, no simple or ‘knock-down’ answers emerge. Rather one feels the energy and involvement of the participants as they engage deeply together at the creative edge of their church and their scientific worlds. It strikes me that it wouldn’t be that difficult to create similar groups in many churches if only the right ‘edge’ question could be discovered for each one. It is most often finding the right question that is the key task.
Simon Gibbes continues the reflective practitioner contributions to this issue with a piece drawn from his Masters study on the question of loneliness. It is axiomatic, though less people believe so than one might expect, that all the social issues found in wider society are also exhibited within the Church. Gibbes shares survey evidence however that loneliness is actually a greater problem in churches in the UK which is, of course deeply concerning. Using a correlative and interdisciplinary methodology he goes on to offer a theological response for churches and church leaders through seeking ‘meaningful relationship, solitude and transcendence’.
Chris Clements and Peter Bush also offer an exemplary practical theology article as practitioners reflecting on their experience of church leadership in Canada, having been brought up short in different ways by how they were exercising power. We know that the literature on leadership, even Christian leadership is voluminous and yet each individual leader needs to find their own place within it and this is what Chris and Peter do suggestively here. I spent a lot of my time in the past helping develop church leaders and I longed for more people who were self-reflective like these authors! Clements and Bush complete a full turn of the pastoral cycle in the article, working with the fruitful and redolent image of leader as ambassador. There are indeed many other images that are available, but this one ‘lands’ for them in both its biblical foundations in the NT and how it deals with power and authority. Thus, we discover erudite pastoral wisdom here, recovering a proper meekness in leaders, who create space for truth to be spoken and who equalise what is so often a hierarchicalised system with asymmetric power relations.
How do preachers respond when their minority community comes under both racial and physical attack as scapegoats in the midst of a pandemic? This is the question Jeremy Kangsan Kim addresses as an Asian American who has studied homiletics to doctoral level. Rather than draw on western notions of Otherness via Levinas, which he finds deficient, Kim returns to the roots of his community in Confucianism and discovers there a rich seam of philosophical thought about the Other on which to draw. Thus, a genuinely original indigenous homiletic emerges for a very current and real issue embracing community, compassion, lament, anger, resistance and righteousness. The article courageously and sensitively addresses the reality of racist hate crime for the Asian American community whether they are Christian, religious, or indeed none of those. Here is practical theology developed from inter-religious and inter-philosophical dialogue which offers us a great deal of insight, first into the particular community it is considering, but also into our discipline as it grapples with questions thrown up by our globalised world beyond a narrow Eurocentrism.
Ted Whapham and Carla Pezzia from the USA offer us an insight into homiletics as envisaged and practised in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas, Texas, setting out a helpful example of the rightful place of homiletical study in the field of practical theology. The interaction of theological reflection and empirical research presented here is stimulating, asking some important questions of an under-researched area. The function of the homily in the Catholic Mass demands substantial treatment as it asks searching questions about the place of preaching in worship and subsequently its place in liturgical theology. Setting out the ‘ideal’ in the form of recent Magisterial documents we learn first about what we could call the normative and formal theologies of preaching in the Catholic Church. In contrast, the empirical survey data that the researchers collect as the ‘real’ situation sets out fascinating differences between the normative/formal and the espoused and operant theologies evident amongst both preachers and hearers.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank, officially Al Barrett and Jill Marsh for putting together our ground-breaking double issue on Critical White Theology published earlier this year. Guest-editing is an onerous task and they approached it head-on with a strong sense of purpose, even calling. Also, congratulations to Stephen Roberts and Sarah Dunlop who creatively curated a number of Practical Theology articles on the subject of chaplaincy into a new book published recently by Routledge: ‘Chaplaincy and Practical Theology: Researching a Pioneering Ministry’. For the rest of this year, we now plan to publish the issue showcasing the best material from the BIAPT 2021 conference on Eco-theology after our usual Adult Theological Education special issue.
Since last year we have said goodbye to Darren Cronshaw from the Editorial Board and thank him for his contribution – especially in turning reviews around very efficiently! We give a warm welcome to two new members, Mansur Ali, our first Islamic scholar of Practical Theology joins Cardiff University in Wales along with Kermit Moss from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary of Lenoir-Rhyne University in the USA.