A Theory of Religious Praxis
A Theory of Religious Praxis
Roy Lazar A
Pastoral or Practical?
The youngest branch of the oldest discipline of the academic world is Pastoral or Practical Theology. Is it pastoral or practical? Pastoral is from predominantly Catholic circle denoting a science dealing with the religious activities of the Christian community. Practical is from the German Reformation churches giving a theoretical framework for the life and action of a Christian community. Pastoral is derived from the Latin word, Pastor, which means shepherd indicating the priest who is supposed to carry out the work of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Hence, pastoral theology means literally a science that deals with the activities of the shepherds, whereas practical theology extends its sphere of reflection to all the activities of the believing community. Though there are subtle differences between these two terms both are dealing with the praxis of the religious community, hence both the terms are used overlapping with each other and at times substituting one another. This article prefers to use the latter, i.e. practical theology, which includes also the shepherding activities of a Christian community.
Among the numerous definitions available for pastoral/practical theology, the following one from Stephen Pattison and James Woodward is very apt in describing the discipline: Pastoral/practical theology is a place where religious belief, tradition and practice meets contemporary experiences, questions and conducts a dialogue that is mutually enriching, intellectually critical, and practically transforming. Practical theology since its inception into academic enterprise has come a long way to establish itself as a science with its specific objectives and methodology on par with other disciplines.
Developing the Theory of the Praxis
The encounter between Christian beliefs and practices with Greek philosophy already in the first century after Christian era gave birth to
Roy Lazar A
Pastoral or Practical?
The youngest branch of the oldest discipline of the academic world is Pastoral or Practical Theology. Is it pastoral or practical? Pastoral is from predominantly Catholic circle denoting a science dealing with the religious activities of the Christian community. Practical is from the German Reformation churches giving a theoretical framework for the life and action of a Christian community. Pastoral is derived from the Latin word, Pastor, which means shepherd indicating the priest who is supposed to carry out the work of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Hence, pastoral theology means literally a science that deals with the activities of the shepherds, whereas practical theology extends its sphere of reflection to all the activities of the believing community. Though there are subtle differences between these two terms both are dealing with the praxis of the religious community, hence both the terms are used overlapping with each other and at times substituting one another. This article prefers to use the latter, i.e. practical theology, which includes also the shepherding activities of a Christian community.
Among the numerous definitions available for pastoral/practical theology, the following one from Stephen Pattison and James Woodward is very apt in describing the discipline: Pastoral/practical theology is a place where religious belief, tradition and practice meets contemporary experiences, questions and conducts a dialogue that is mutually enriching, intellectually critical, and practically transforming. Practical theology since its inception into academic enterprise has come a long way to establish itself as a science with its specific objectives and methodology on par with other disciplines.
Developing the Theory of the Praxis
The encounter between Christian beliefs and practices with Greek philosophy already in the first century after Christian era gave birth to