Meandry interdyscyplinarności teologii pastoralnej. Przyczynek do dyskusji

Abstract

The debates related to the understanding of pastoral theology are being held continuously. The Second Vatican Council has exceptionally contributed to this development, since its pastoral character led to offering prospects for setting new goals and for designing new style and methods of research. Therefore it is worth triggering off a reflection on the method of applying pastoral theology. It is of specific character, since it draws from two sources – both theological and non-theological. The authors of this article have been inspired by the document issued by the International Theological Commission Theology today: Perspectives, Principles and Criteria (2012), which emphasizes the fact that the practical theology has greatly profited from being combined with sociology, psychology and pedagogy (No. 81). Therefore, they decided to attempt to specify the relationship between pastoral theology and these sciences. They ask whether pastoral psychology, pedagogy and sociology are sub-disciplines of pastoral theology, sub-fields of non-theological sciences or whether they are interdisciplinary sciences of theoretical and practical character, whose achievements are exploited in the process of creating theological models of the pastoral activity, comprising also the paths for it. Carrying out such considerations, the authors remind the essence and goals of pastoral theology, they stress its nature, which is both prescriptive and practical, presenting at the same time its methods. Furthermore, they discuss the specifics of practicing interdisciplinary pastoral theology, concentrating on the non-theological fields. Finally, they propose some theological suggestions, stipulating explicitly that they are not of the conclusive character and they are just supposed to initiate a substantive discussion aiming at formulating new solutions.