18. Prelude to Practical Theology: Variations on Theory and Practice - Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner

Schleiermacher's tree model, an image of organic unity: roots-philosophical theology, trunk-historical theology, crown (branches, leaves, fruits)-practical theology.
-Emphasis: interconnectedness, healthy interdependency; "there is something that beckons persons into connectedness...underlying our endeavors of self-differentiation in denominations, disciplines, and guilds, we are created to be organically related to others in ministry and theology."  (p.4) "The vital exchange of nurture within the parts of the tree" p.68
-"practical theology bears fruit, offers shade for sojourners, provides a nesting place for wayfarers, and connects its branches to other trees" (p.6); is "a discipline-in-relationship" (p.8)

Image of musicians-in-relationship, playing their individual instruments but in a way that benefits the whole artistic enterprise (performers entering the center stage at different timings and from different directions with different tempos.

-Dynamic symbolism "points to the infinite and incomprehensible; the use of multiple symbols can prevent an overbearing focus on or concretization of any one of them." H. Flanders Dunbar
 (p.9)

Love of God and neighbour.
-"Future questions for the field of practical theology cluster around the multicultural nature, the international audience, and the organic unity of the field. (1) How shall a multicultural or intercultural context influence "exegesis" and practical theology?..." p.20
-Hospitality recognizes the particularity of others as part of the broader interdependence of being and the interconnectedness of learning that characterizes the depths of our reality." John B. Bennett p.20-21

Practical theology concerns itself with movement or direction. p.30
-"An inversion of power has to take place for the world to see how Christ loved the church. The postcolonial mind-set disuses the imagery of slaves and servants and instead prefers the imagery of friends." John 15:12-15 p.32
-The Somalian refugee case: "This space between two lands or countries is likened to an interstice, or crack, between cultures. ...third culture or hybrid culture. Phan depicts this intercultural space as a matrix with a womb-like, generative possibility." p.34 "How might a theologian best enter the land of 'betwixt and between?' First, it would be with humility and with an eagerness to learn. The vision of our call to service would be dialectically related to the discernment of this particular context, that is, the worldview of the transnational migrants or refugees." p. 34
-Theologian Judith Berling: "What makes theological learning distinctive is its development of Christian character, habitus, or wisdom, the deepening of Christian understanding and of Christian lives. As the theological learner learns more about the context of her Christian life--including the impact of religious diversity in it--that learning is folded back into her reappropriation of what it means to be Christian, her sense of the Christian tradition and its language of self-understanding." p. 34
-"Instead of the top-down power movement of colonial powers to to the conquered, we have a circular movement in place." p.35
-"Boundary crossing gives the church more opportunities to be in relationship. This connectedness can yield increase in the love of God and neighbor, sometimes with risk but always with movement. In the end, the purpose of the music of ministry is to hear the overture of God." p.36

P: The purpose of practical theology is connecting theology (biblical teachings, historical theology, doctrine, theology) to how the church can live this out, and when the church encounters discordant notes (unexpected situations) then the church responds as best as they could being faithful to the Word, then also reflect on the situation back into theology.
-"Practical theology is a collaborative exercise between theory and practice." p.44;
-David Tracy: "practical theology is the mutually critical correlation of the interpreted theory and praxis of the Christian fact and the interpreted theory and praxis of the contemporary situation." p.45
-"In practical theology, this ever-deepening reflection is either preceded or followed by action and practice." p.59

-Countermovement in accord with the currents in contemporary practical theology: "There is a shift away from traditional sources of power and authority" ....to redefine power as God-given, innate authority. ...Those on the margins of society are offering up lots of "cold water" if those of us who are nonmarginalized would receive." p.49

-Living human instruments:
"action-reflection" or "theory-praxis";
Praxis=when practice is involved with political powers and injustice or justice issues. p.59
Practical theology="an academic discipline in relation to other theological disciplines. In practical theology, critical reflection is combined with "doing theology": acts of ministering to the poor, the wick, the imprisoned, the subjugated, the despairing, the homeless, and the unjustly treated." p.67

22-28 Mar, 2017
Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2008.

17. Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith - Diana Butler Bass

The new village church:
1. Tradition, not traditionalism
2. Practice, not purity
-gives ppl the ability to grow deeper instead of just talking about doctrinal purity
3. Wisdom, not certainty "Practice meant doing Christian things; wisdom meant thinking like Christians." p. 51

Justice:
"Doing justice means engaging the powers--transforming the 'inner spirit' of all systems of injustice, violence, and exclusion." p.161 "we are the hands and feet of Christ" ... the Methodist ideal of "social holiness," "For them doing justice means being a faithful church."
-"ministry in the world, 'provide time to reflect on what the Chrstian calling means in everyday life.'" (p.163)

Worship:
"Worship, Author Anthony Robinson concludes, needs to be an 'experience of God,' rather than a 'reflection about God." p.176
-'Worship is right harmony, all sounds of discord gone, all injustice banished. Every act of worship, no matter how private or public, how discreet or elaborate, enacts God's dream for the world. By learning to look for it, by opening ourselves to sensing the awe and wonder of the dance, we might glimpse the ripples of God. Worship is much more than something Christians attend on Sunday morning--it is something pilgrims make together. By making it, we join in the dance. This is what Christians mean when they refer to 'mystery,' seeing that which lies beyond human knowledge to the passions and purposes of creation."
-"Hospitality, beauty, celebration. Awe, wonder, mystery. Communities making merry. For too long, mainline Protestants equated worship with thinking about God. Now, in at least some places, their hearts--the whole capacity of being human--are learning to experience God." p. 178

"Being a tourist means experiencing something new; being a pilgrim means becoming someone new. Pilgrimages go somewhere--to a transformed life." p.216
-"They exchange their nomad identities (wanderers without a home), for pilgrim identities (people on a journey who believe they have a home)." p.229
Aimlessness: From busyness to vocation
Consumption: From consumers to practitioners
Fragmentation: From individuals to community
Forgetfulness: From amnesia to memory

24 Feb, 2017
New York: HarperCollins, 2006