Familiarity and otherness: evangelical practical theology as worship

ABSTRACT

What characterises an evangelical approach to practical theology? As more evangelicals are engaging in practical theology, given the contested nature of evangelicalism, there is a pressing need to identify what might constitute an ecumenical and authentically evangelical approach. From a reflexive analysis of participation in corporate worship, it was found that through placing the body in worship, one assumes a set of axiological postures and orients oneself towards God as an epistemological basis for knowing. Through the framework of celebration, communication, and critique, this article specifies how a standpoint of worship encodes the central concerns of an evangelically oriented practical theology.

KEYWORDS:

• Reflexivity
• doxology
• affective
• standpoint
• evangelical

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Isaac J. McNish

Isaac J. McNish is an adjunct lecturer at Moorlands College and is part-way through his doctorate in Practical Theology at London School of Theology.