Practical Theology: A Transformational Activity Among Scholars

This paper discusses practical theology as a transformational activity among scholars. It explains its importance in church leadership, missionary settings, and pastoral practices. It also highlights how it is a curricular area for ministry training and an activity of faith among believers.

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Practical Theology
Name
Course
Date

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Introduction
People strive to apply theological factuality to all aspects of biography specifically the
work and life of the tabernacle. This aspect is commonly known as functional theology. It
pursues to evolve in learners the adeptness and perception for counseling, sermonize, church
leadership, instructions, temple planting, leniency, double-cultural machinery, and evangelism.1
In extension to fostering and encouraging spiritual development, practical theology trains
learners for professional ability all in a bid to prepare them for Christian service and ministry. It
is an applied discipline that rotates around how the theology ought to be practiced in life and
with making the application directly. It has both lived and theoretical dimensions. This double
character gives the study of the discipline the privilege to exist in a productive dialogue with the
rehearsal of putting that theology into action. Generally, practical theology is a transformational
activity. It seeks to fabricate a disparity to people, convention, and the situation in the
coexistence both regarding outcome and process. In this paper, this statement will be discussed
in the context of the four areas of practical theology as discussed below.
Practical theology is discipline among scholars. Practical theology, as pivotal to the
leadership of the church, missionary settings, and pastoral practices is emerging as a distinct
discipline among scholars. In the discipline, scholars try to comprehend how the articulations
and the acts of God take shape in the expressions and actions of man in the world.2 The scholars
work hard to comprehend what it means to be sent out by the creator to the world where we stay
and work. It helps the scholars understand how they can cross the boundaries of race, culture,
1 Cartledge, Professor Mark J. "Can Theology be ‘Practical’?" Journal of Contemporary Ministry, 2017: 5-19.
2 Grumett, David. "Practical theology: The past, present and future of a concept." Theology in Scotland, 2015: 5- 26.

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gender, class, age, and place to reach those people who are in need. Theology itself is words and
witness about God. When people hear and see Him, He guides them to the needs of their
neighbors. Therefore, practical theology stands to be a discipline since it helps its scholars
understand what their neighbors need, what their needs are, reasons behind the needs, possible
ways of settling the needs and ways through which they can equip members, leaders, and
congregations to become involved in the Creator’s missions to the world.3
In the light of all this needs, practical theology gives weight to the issues of church
ministry, transformative deeds within the community and the life of faith societies in different
settings. The struggles of life that have been analyzed in the ethical and theological deliberations
have constantly called for a review of the perception and practice of theology. Therefore, its
practice has inspired ministers and educators to critically analyze the existing ministerial
practices.4 The social-economic scenario of the world has changed hence inspiring the believing
society to pay attention to the guidance at the practical and theological activities they encounter
on a daily basis hence the reason as to why I agree with the other scholar's argument that
practical theology is discipline among scholars.
Practical theology is an activity of faith among believers. As practical theologians
journey through the different stages of theological studies, they discover who and what they
really are.5 They become mindful that the confines between different agencies serve a beneficial
3 Cahalan, Kathleen A. "Locating Practical Theology in Catholic Theological Discourse and Practice." International Journal of
Practical Theology, 2011: 1-21.
4 Jaison, Dr. Jessy. "Theological Education Towards Holisitc Formation." Journal of Theological Education and Mission
(JOTEAM), 2010: 1-13.
5 Tobias, Styne H., and Maake J. Masango. "The Theology and Praxis of Practical Theology in the Context of the Faculty of
Theology." HTS Theological Studies, 2011: Online.

4
ambition to the world. For instance, organizations based on faith have been pivotal to the global
health and social warfare since they came into existence.6 They are the fundamental providers of
social services, healthcare, post-junior services, community development, education and
emergency assistance in the present world. Faith-based unions such as the Catholic Charities are
some of the givers of convivial services in the world for example, in the United States; the
Catholic Church runs the biggest health system. It also runs the biggest private school system.
This organizations work with the needy people in the society as an act of faith. The practical
theology of running the faith-based organizations is learned best through practice. The Catholic
Organizations have developed leadership development models which other faiths can adapt, for
example, combining experience with training which could eventually be placed in the
community leadership roles.
Practical theology is all about death and life.7 Human life is defined by paradigmatic
variations in all aspects, for example, economic, sexual, social, psychological, theological as well
as systematic. Going through all this variations in the light of faith is a fundamental goal for the
theological courses. As faith seeks to comprehend, learners implicitly ask themselves several
questions. Like who they are, the purpose of the experiences they are going through in their life,
the normality of their life encounters, what life means to them, how they can change themselves
not forgetting the worries of the whereabouts of God in all the normal encounters of the human
6 Schneider, Jo Anne, and Patricia Wittberg. "Comparing Practical Theology across Religions and Denominations." Draft, 2010:
1-39.
7 Kock, A. (Jos) de. "What About Learning in Practical Theological Studies? Toward More Conceptual Clarity." SAGE Open,
2015: 1-12.

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existence. One needs the culture of the living theology to examine all this life worries.8 I agree
with the argument that practical theology is an activity of faith because practical theologians as
well as their followers tackle some difficult aspects of life which have been difficult to other
people with ease.
Practical theology is a method for studying theology. It is an academic discipline which
examines and reflects on devotional practices for purposes of comprehending the theology that is
applied in such trials. It also helps people to consider how theological practices and theories can
be more fully improved, changed and aligned. It often seeks to address the perceived
disconnection between theology as an intellectual discipline or opinions on the other side, and
the practice and life of the church on the other.9 Four areas of concern are always discussed in
practical theology. This includes the activity going on, the reason as to why it is going on, what
is supposed to be going on and the manner in which people can respond to what is going on.10
Functional theology is exclusively a specialized name for the canon of the Christian
memoir. It houses several related subfields of theology. They include; an applied theology which
involves religious education, missions, pastoral psychology, the psychology of religion and the
evangelism. Other subfields include; church growth, administration, spiritual formation, spiritual
direction, homiletics, political theology, spiritual theology as well as the theology of peace.
8 Teo, Wilson. "Christian Spiritual Formation." Emerging Leadership Journeys, 2017: 138-150.
9 Klaasen, J.S. "Practical theology: A critically engaged practical reason approach of practice, theory, practice and theory." HTS
Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 2014: 1-6.
10 Hermans, Christiaan A. M., and Prof. Dr. Friedrich Schweitzer. "Theory and methodology of praxis in Practical Theology:
Introduction to the Panel." IJPT, 2014: 88-90.

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Theology tries to study the nature of God. As seen above, most of the areas of study in practical
theology expand and reflect on religious practices to understand the theology.
As the name implies, practical theology is a way of studying theology in a manner aiming
at making it applicable or useful. People study theology through practical theology for it to
become useful and applicable to the daily outfits.11 It is the practical dedication to the application
of theological insights. I agree with the argument that practical theology is a method of studying
theology. This is because, it helps the students who study it to translate the ideas learned into
useful ministry to other individuals. For its goals to be achieved, both family and personal lives,
as well as the educational and administrative ministries in the church, are involved.
Practical theology is a curricular area for ministry training. It is a doctrine within theological
teaching curriculum which teaches the sub-realm and programs in the agency.12 The sub-fields
include religious education, church administration, social mission, homiletics, and liturgics. Most
of the practical theology is taught. However, the surrounding of a residential theological school
directly relates to the training of ministers. Several academic pressures such as time fail to
authorize either a rigorous professional or academic approach. A pastoral teacher or educator is
always required to narrow down their educational objectives to achievable proportions.13 They
are also required to decide upon course contents and methods which will enable the learners to
achieve the goals. This is despite the educator’s acceptance of the widening scope of the practical
theology. Practical theology is thus a limited enterprise. The discipline, however, equips every
11 Trokan, J. "Models of Theological Reflection: Theory and Praxis." Journal of Catholic Education, 2013: 144-158.
12 Preez, Kruger P. du, Hans J. Hendriks, and Arend E. Carl. "Missional theological curricula and institutions." Verbum Eccles,
2014: Online.
13 Mellor, Anthony Edward. Starting further back: An analysis of Karl Rahner’s mystagogical approach applied to the new
evangelisation in an Australian setting. March 30, 2016. https://researchbank.acu.edu.au/theses/611/ (accessed October 2, 2018).

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student to ask him or herself vigorously throughout their ministry, regardless of the nature of the
field, few questions.
To begin with, the learners may worry about what might be happening in a certain
situation or even what might be the reason behind what is happening. With these questions, the
student is at a point to evaluate their existing work and access again the methods and goals about
the future. Practical theology educators have accepted and in co-operated the contributions of
sociology and psychology as offering just items for the ministry. In my view, theological
teachings provide the learners with the ability to evaluate what is happening now as well as what
shall happen in the future. This is why I agree with the argument that practical theology is a
curricular area for ministry training.
Conclusion
Indeed practical theology is a transformational activity. It aims at making a difference to
people, understandings, and the situation in the contemporary both regarding its processes and
outcomes. It is discipline among scholars. It is the pivot of the leadership of the church. It gives
weight to the transformative deeds of the church to the community. The discipline has a
fundamental responsibility for building the faith of the local congregation holistically. Out of
this, many methods have been integrated analytically to prove that the discipline is an act of faith
among the believers. Through practical theology, students learn theology. They study the nature
of the Creator as well as the various religious beliefs. Students are taught on what is expected of
them throughout the practical theology teachings.
Bibliography

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Cahalan, Kathleen A. "Locating Practical Theology in Catholic Theological Discourse and
Practice." International Journal of Practical Theology, 2011: 1-21.
Cartledge, Professor Mark J. "Can Theology be ‘Practical’?" Journal of Contemporary Ministry,
2017: 5-19.
Grumett, David. "Practical theology: The past, present and future of a concept." Theology in
Scotland, 2015: 5- 26.
Hermans, Christiaan A. M., and Prof. Dr. Friedrich Schweitzer. "Theory and methodology of
praxis in Practical Theology: Introduction to the Panel." IJPT, 2014: 88-90.
Jaison, Dr. Jessy. "Theological Education Towards Holisitc Formation." Journal of Theological
Education and Mission (JOTEAM), 2010: 1-13.
Klaasen, J.S. "Practical theology: A critically engaged practical reason approach of practice,
theory, practice and theory." HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 2014: 1-6.
Kock, A. (Jos) de. "What About Learning in Practical Theological Studies? Toward More
Conceptual Clarity." SAGE Open, 2015: 1-12.
Mellor, Anthony Edward. Starting further back: An analysis of Karl Rahner’s mystagogical
approach applied to the new evangelisation in an Australian setting. March 30, 2016.
https://researchbank.acu.edu.au/theses/611/ (accessed October 2, 2018).
Preez, Kruger P. du, Hans J. Hendriks, and Arend E. Carl. "Missional theological curricula and
institutions." Verbum Eccles, 2014: Online.
Schneider, Jo Anne, and Patricia Wittberg. "Comparing Practical Theology across Religions and
Denominations." Draft, 2010: 1-39.
Teo, Wilson. "Christian Spiritual Formation." Emerging Leadership Journeys, 2017: 138-150.
Tobias, Styne H., and Maake J. Masango. "The Theology and Praxis of Practical Theology in the
Context of the Faculty of Theology." HTS Theological Studies, 2011: Online.
Trokan, J. "Models of Theological Reflection: Theory and Praxis." Journal of Catholic
Education, 2013: 144-158.