Volume 22, Issue 1

The paper explores issues related to prisoners’ Christian conversion experiences in the Chinese context of Hong Kong: How common are conversions? What motivates them? How are they experienced? What impacts do they have? How sustainable are they and how are they to be understood? The paper works through quantitative and qualitative steps: Quantitatively, it surveys the frequency, motives, and subjective experiences of prisoners’ conversions. Through extended interviews with a small number of inmates and former inmates, the paper investigates subjective experiences of transformation and establishes factors that help to sustain conversions. Finally, the paper considers the consequences for pastoral ministry with people in prison and with ex-inmates.

Today, a series of new initiatives are appearing within the established churches, many of them directed towards families with young children. The research presented in this article examines one specific new activity, “Babysalmesang” – baby hymn singing – within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark. This study rests firmly on the results of a national study and provides a qualitative perspective on what takes place in babysalmesang from the perspective of ritual education. The analysis of the data showed that babysalmesang is a ritualized activity that, at the same time, teaches about a ritual: baptism.

This paper explores preachers’ deployment of Appraisal (affect, judgement, appreciation, and dialogic engagement) in preaching on interreligious themes. Adopting a comparative discourse analysis, the paper investigates two American sermons representing diametrically opposed theological responses to other religions, a pluralist sermon in the Unitarian Universalist tradition and an exclusivist sermon in the biblical-evangelical tradition. An analysis of the two preachers’ Appraisal choices reveals two distinct Appraisal profiles. A discussion is then offered demonstrating how Appraisal is conducive to the appropriation and conservation of a specific interreligious persona during preaching.

This paper conceptualizes a postcolonializing practical theological methodology that maps out the boundary dynamics of spectrality that often characterize the lived experiences on the margin of the empire. It draws from the mathematical understanding of Brownian motion that calculates the random movements of particles, as exposed by quantum mechanics, to construct an image for the postcolonializing practical theology. Then the random movement is explored through the concept of spectrality, which is engaged in dialogue with a 17th century Korean novel, Jangwha Hongryun Jeon, cultural theories and theologies.

The aim of this article is to discuss how one can understand empirical observations as a starting point for practical theological research, which is geared towards developing theological reflection, with a particular focus on the faith practices of children and young people. Three basic skills are suggested as keys in scholarly engagement with children and young people: observation as reception, listening as reception, and the importance of learning language. The authors show what happens theologically when youth ministry scholars apply these skills in practical theological research that focuses on the faith practices of young people.

In this article we show how a sensibility of materiality offers helpful perspectives on issues of tradition and normativity in theological action research. Employing Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as our conceptual framework, we analyze work published by the Action Research – Church and Society (ARCS) team. We argue that a sociomaterial understanding of the embodiment of the normative voices of tradition in ecclesial practices, such as the liturgy, offers resources to overcome a tension we see inherent in the work of the ARCS team. Developing the ARCS team’s conversational approach by including this sociomaterial sensibility allows for a more mutual relationship between the normative voices of the Christian tradition, the academy and the inherent theology of what is enacted and expressed by participants in the fieldwork.

The first part of this International Report (IJPT 21.1) dealt with the theory of praxis in general, describing different approaches in pastoral care and various methods in theological reflection. It concluded with the question whether a ‘theological method’ exists that could be called specifically ‘Indian.’ Part II proceeds from this clue to explore the growth, Sitz im Leben , content and unique characteristics of Practical Theology in India.