Volume 23, Issue 2

Disaffiliation indicates a major future challenge to the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in Germany, particularly regarding the church tax. This article addresses that issue by first describing the particular German context of disaffiliation. It then summarises previous research, which indicates that the church tax is the trigger to leave the church. An analysis of recent data reveals that the portion of church members is lowest in those income classes that have to pay an above average amount of church tax. Moreover, the likelihood to resign from church membership is highest when the individual begins his or her first paid job. Both findings ascribe church tax a more powerful role in the process of disaffiliation than previous research.

In recent years, the Roman Catholic Church has seen an increase in pastoral education programs, literature, and other resources on church management. Though positive outcomes have been noted, there is much room for improvement in the way management ideas have been applied to the ecclesial context. This article examines patterns of engagement with management science in Catholic pastoral resources, and notes the key conflicts that have arisen. It then outlines considerations for a way forward in the inter-disciplinary engagement. These include the need for recognition of the limitations of management, critical reflexivity in the appropriation of management ideas, and dialogical discernment in the application of the faith tradition towards improving management theory and practice.

Prayers of intercession cover a wide range of topics, yet prayers for mental health or issues around sexuality or divorce prove to be taboo and stigmatised. This article interprets this finding from empirical research with the theories of taboo as outlined by Alasdair MacIntyre and Mary Douglas. The article offers pastoral-theological reflections on the problem of taboo and stigma – caused by doctrine or cultural norms – in intercession. The article argues that the practices of solidarity, naming, and hospitality reframe the way taboo and stigma can be thought about theologically and therefore eventually might influence intercession in public worship.

The article suggests that the practices of leadership within Korean communal transformational leadership in Korean resistance movements provide a resource for women in the Korean immigrant church. The article addresses the challenges of Korean leadership in immigrant contexts, how immigrant leadership is performed and transformed, and how immigrants have developed and adapted their leadership from a Korean to US context during the immigrant identity transformation process.

Analyzing contemporary experiments in homiletical and liturgical improvisation shows fresh and exciting potential for more participation in worship. The use of Free Jazz as a paradigm for liturgical and homiletical practice is complimented by the model of Theatrical Improvisation. By rendering empirical improvisations in liturgy and preaching as interactions, a grid of participatory improvisational strategies is generated that can be usefully employed for the analysis and improvement of other pastoral practices such as pastoral care or ministerial training.

This paper examines Qurʾan 4:34, also known as the “beating verse,” through an Islamic feminist lens, focusing attention on the importance of spirituality in the contemporary context. It contends that reading the Qurʾan as a spiritual method sheds new light on this verse, changing its interpretation from one that makes allowances for wife-beating to one that provides tangible techniques to combat this phenomenon. The paper examines how the verse introduces both positive and negative intervention strategies to restrain and overcome wife-beating, in conversation with Sufi conceptualizations of the spiritual path and progression from the “animal self” to the self-critical self.

This text attempts to report on the development of practical theology in the context of Brazil and Latin America. It presents the difficulty of constructing such an account. The article is organized into four parts: 1) a brief description of the Latin American context; 2) the permanent challenge of conceptualizing Practical Theology as a theological discipline; 3) relevant developments of the discipline; 4) current and future challenges for practical theology in this reality.

In 2006, British Anglicans and Methodists organized an evangelical initiative called Fresh Expressions to start experimental faith communities. The target population was people who are not involved in church. Over the past 13 years, Fresh Expressions has expanded to almost every continent as a movement that holds together traditional, inherited church practices with entrepreneurial experimentation. It has been lauded as an incarnational approach to mission and it has been criticized for colluding with the worst of contemporary culture. This essay explores the historical development of Fresh Expressions, its unique integral approach to ecclesiology, and its potential for ecclesial renewal and reform.