Practical Theology in Slovakia

Abstract

AbstractThis International Report on Practical Theology in Slovakia focuses on the case of practical theology in The Evangelical Church of Augsburg Confession in Slovakia, a religious minority in a mostly Roman Catholic country. Although the church dates to the Protestant Reformation, its understanding of practical theology is about one hundred years old. The article sketches the most important developments in the field since 1919, mainly induced by the far-reaching political upheavals after the two World Wars, as well as the opening of the Iron Curtain in 1989. After the period of repression of religion by the state during the communist era, the “velvet revolution” in 1989 opened an almost unlimited room for the churches’ mission in Slovak society: new possibilities and challenges for building church communities, developing congregational ministry, and involving the church in educational, cultural and social ministry. The venue in which practical theology has been developing is the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava.