Abstract

Practical Theology is located in a fragile, vulnerable space between various disciplines, where it is exposed to multiple different narratives. The author proposes a postfoundational, narrative approach to Practical Theology that favours the local over the global and the specific over generalisations. Africa is taken as the defining context for the understanding and development of a specific postfoundational Practical Theology. People and their stories are central, and this requires a coconstruction of meaning with “co-researchers”. The author’s “Seven Movements”, as published in other articles, is used with an Ubuntu research project as a case study. The “Seven Movements” facilitate the telling and retelling of unheard stories, particularly stories of the marginalised and vulnerable. This way of doing Practical Theology takes the experiences of “co-researchers” seriously and conducts research wíth people rather than on them. The researcher’s focus is concrete, local, and contextual, but also extends beyond the local by engaging in transdisciplinary conversation and developing interpretations that point beyond the local.

Highlights

  • Practical Theology is located in a fragile, vulnerable space between various disciplines, where it is exposed to multiple different narratives

  • Practical Theology is essentially an in-between discipline. It dwells in the gaps between the various theological disciplines, while it is multilingual in the sense that it simultaneously speaks the languages of the Humanities, the Social Sciences, and Theology (Browning 1991; Heitink 1993)

  • It is interesting to note that we find the same language in the narrative approach, in liberation and feminist theology, and in postfoundational philosophy and theology

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Summary

STORY AND IMAGINATION

Practical Theology is essentially an in-between discipline. It dwells in the gaps between the various theological disciplines, while it is multilingual in the sense that it simultaneously speaks the languages of the Humanities, the Social Sciences, and Theology (Browning 1991; Heitink 1993). Bochner and Ellis (1996:18) have pointed out that “[t]he walls between social sciences and humanities have crumbled”, and the same can be said about the walls between Theology and other disciplines. Bochner and Ellis (1996:18) have pointed out that “[t]he walls between social sciences and humanities have crumbled”, and the same can be said about the walls between Theology and other disciplines In this in-between land, the practical theologian is confronted with, and exposed to multiple realities or to a variety of narratives. In the in-between land, where Practical Theology operates, an “ecotone” develops and becomes a space for the development of stories of alternative realities With this in mind, we can say that, in this practical theological ecotone, the emphasis shifts from “what” questions to “who” questions. “It is the invisible but felt presence of the other that ignites imagination leading to connection” (Caine & Steeves 2009:11) This narrative approach, with the emphasis on stories and imagination, consists of both an epistemology and a methodology.

A DANGEROUS LOCATION
PRACTICAL THEOLOGY FOR AFRICA
AFRICAN AND POSTFOUNDATIONAL
Ubuntu research – a case study
A specific context is described
In-context experiences are listened to and described
CONCLUSION
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