Volume 22, Issue 2

The question of methodology in theology is sometimes vexed. In this article I seek to offer a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology for theology, utilising the insights of recent French phenomenology. Such a methodology demands that we refrain from making judgments in advance about the kinds of phenomena it is possible to encounter. Not only does this enable us to re-frame questions about the distinctions between philosophy and theology, but it also frees theologians from the problematic requirement of assuming a methodological atheism, particularly as they undertake practical theological research.

This paper aims to reflect on homiletics and Christian preaching as a voice of promise in a paradoxical context such as the Brazilian and Latin American. Initially it will reflect upon three characteristic types of relationship between preaching and promise: the eschatological and transcendentalist preaching that locates the promise in an afterlife or the end of times; the humanistic and liberating preaching that places the promise in the dimension of the socio-political struggle for transformation in the present; the individualistic and prosperity-oriented preaching that projects promise as material achievement and hedonistic satisfaction. Finally, faced with this reality, we seek ways in literature ( Two Words , by Isabel Allende) and in popular culture ( Central do Brasil , a movie by Walter Salles) to help us in creating a sermon that announces the promise amid the paradoxes of life in order to contribute not merely to individual, ecclesial or ideological satisfaction, but to point to human and cultural transformations.

“Open and affirming” connotes ministry that is fully inclusive of LGBTQIA+ persons. As a participant-observer, the author employed narrative theory to learn how members of a congregation recently committed to this ministry understood their faith in relation to the queer experiences of their sisters and brothers in Christ. This article offers a descriptive and interpretative account of their theological understanding of open and affirming ministry. Prior commitments—trust, respect for differences of opinion, and ongoing theological learning—created openness to the surprising work of the Holy Spirit. This research identifies radically inclusive love as a charism enabling this congregation to overcome not only LGBTQIA+ exclusion but also to address many other human-created barriers to loving God and neighbor.

In this article, possible generational differences between younger and older pastors in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark are examined with respect to their understandings of the wedding and the ecclesiological implications of these understandings. Building on the generational theory of Karl Mannheim, the hypothesis is that despite in-group similarities between older and younger pastors, the two generations will show differences in the way they represent their office and thereby the church is changed not only from the outside but also from the inside. An explorative qualitative study of the understanding of the wedding among selected pastors investigates their understanding of the wedding service in three different dimensions and shows that both groups primarily understand the wedding as a traditional ritual, but younger pastors appear to enact this understanding in a relational approach in which the meaning of the wedding emerges in the encounter between pastor and wedding couple. The older pastors appear to link the meaning of the wedding closely to the ritual procedures themselves. At the end of the article, the ecclesiological implications of these different understandings of the wedding service are elaborated.

In the contemporary theological landscape Filipino theology has remained marginal compared to Latin-American theologies. Hence, this paper attempts to present Bahala Na as a Filipino articulation of Astley’s Ordinary Theology in the context of Filipino diaspora. With this, we assert that the importance of ordinary Filipino migrants’ input in the current theological enterprise cannot be overlooked because the churches in the world are now phenomenally populated by the millions of Filipinos who possess a unique faith that has sustained them amidst the precariousness of their diasporic life. We believe that ignorance of this inculturated theology is ignorance of the real essence of “catholic” theology.

Zusammenfassung Ehrenamtliches Engagement spielt für die religiöse Bildungsarbeit im Bereich der kirchlichen Lernorte insgesamt und speziell für die Katechese in katholischen Gemeinden eine maßgebliche Rolle. Trotz dieser hohen Bedeutung und einer seit Jahren sich vollziehenden Umbruchsituation hat sich die empirische religionspädagogische Forschung in Deutschland dem Verhältnis zwischen haupt- und ehrenamtlichem Mitarbeiter/-innen in der Katechese bislang nicht gewidmet. Diesem Desiderat trägt die vorgestellte Pilotstudie Rechnung. Durch eine qualitativ-rekonstruktive Untersuchung von 159 Texten zur Zukunft der Katechese lässt sich zeigen, wie Hypotheken einer ungeklärten Beziehung zwischen beiden Gruppen sowie ein Bewusstsein der gemeinsamen Aufgabe in der Wahrnehmung der Akteure präsent und wirksam sind.

This report on Practical Theology in Japan begins with a biographical account of the discipline’s history and current situation. The author reviews more than 50 years of experience with homiletic and poimenic theory and practice (I.) Practical Theology is described as a component of missiology and as essentially missional (II. and III.). Protestant Practical Theology in Japan was heavily influenced by theology from German-speaking countries during the 1950 s and 1960 s, but particularly American theology gained influence, subsequently (VI.). In both cases, the inculturation of Christianity and Practical Theology proves to be a central issue (V.). The article concludes with a brief review of institutions and protagonists in Japanese Practical Theology today (VII.) and with a summary (VIII.).