International Journal of Practical Theology

Published by De Gruyter

Volume 23 Issue 2

Issue of International Journal of Practical Theology

Contents
Journal Overview

Frontmatter

Publicly Available November 30, 2019

Frontmatter

Page range: I-IV

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November 30, 2019

Research Articles

November 30, 2019

Does Church Tax Matter?

The Influence of Church Tax on Leaving the Church

Ulrich Riegel, David Gutmann, Fabian Peters, Tobias Faix

Page range: 168-187

Abstract

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.

November 30, 2019

What Are They Saying About Church Management? Patterns, Problems, and Considerations for Proceeding

Christina Kheng

Page range: 188-205

Abstract

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.

November 30, 2019

Intercession and the Taboo and Stigma on Mental Health and Doctrinal Anomalies: Pastoral and Theological Implications of Public Prayer Practices

Armand Léon van Ommen

Page range: 206-223

Abstract

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.

November 30, 2019

Challenges of Korean Immigrant Leadership in the Church

Hee An Choi

Page range: 224-241

Abstract

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.

November 30, 2019

Improvisieren für mehr Beteiligung am Gottesdienst?

Eine Analyse gegenwärtiger Gottesdienstexperimente mit Impulsen für die Praxis

Bertram Schirr

Page range: 242-256

Abstract

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.

November 30, 2019

The Qurʾan and Domestic Violence: An Islamic Feminist, Spiritually Integrative Reading of Verse 4:34

Nevin Reda

Page range: 257-273

Abstract

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.

International Report

November 30, 2019

Practical Theology in Brazil and Latin America Today: An Attempt to Report

Julio Cezar Adam

Page range: 274-286

Abstract

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.

Research Report

November 30, 2019

New Ways of Being Church: The Promise of Fresh Expressions

Robert K. Martin

Page range: 287-305

Abstract

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.

Book Reviews

November 30, 2019

Bernhard Eisel, Schaustellerseelsorge. Lebenswelt und religiöse Wirklichkeitsdeutung von Menschen auf der Reise (Praktische Theologie und Kultur 27), Freiburg i. Br. (Kreuz Verlag) 2019, 351 S., ISBN: 978-3-946905-65-3, Euro (D) 28,00.

Manuel Stetter

Page range: 306-309

November 30, 2019

Nancy J. Ramsay, ed., Pastoral Theology and Care: Critical Trajectories in Theory and Practice. West Sussex, UK (Wiley-Blackwell) 2018, 190 pp. Ppbk ISBN: 978-1-119-29256-2, $44.95 eBook ISBN: 9781119292593, $35.99 Hrdcr ISBN: 978-1-119-29252-4, $94.95

Pamela McCarroll

Page range: 310-313

November 30, 2019

Schirr, Bertram, Fürbitten als religiöse Performance. Eine ethnographisch-theologische Untersuchung in drei kontrastierenden Berliner Gottesdienstkulturen (Arbeiten zur Praktischen Theologie 70), Leipzig (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) 2018, 416 S., ISBN 978-3-374-05416-9, € (D) 74,00.

Katharina Krause

Page range: 314-316

November 30, 2019

Christoph Wiesinger, Authentizität. Eine phänomenologische Annäherung an eine praktisch-theologische Herausforderung (Praktische Theologie in Geschichte und Gegenwart 31), Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2019, 304 S., ISBN 978-3-16-156824-4, Eur (D) 64,00.

Jonathan Kühn

Page range: 317-319

About this journal

The International Journal of Practical Theology is an academic journal. It is intended for practical theologians and teachers of religious education, scientists specializing in religion, and representatives of other cultural-scientific disciplines. The aim of the journal is to promote an international and interdisciplinary dialogue.

The journal contains contributions on an empirically descriptive and critically constructive theory of ecclesiastical and religious practice in society. Primarily, it deals with descriptions of religion as it is practised. Religion in this context can be understood in the broad sense of the word according to which all appreciative tendencies towards an ultimate view of oneself and of the world can be described as being religious. Thus the many different forms of religion as they are lived today are applied in a critically constructive manner to the normative self-image of churches, ecclesiastical groups and denominations. As contributions towards practical theology, they ultimately pursue the structure of practically orientated theories of ecclesiastical and ecclesiastically conveyed religious practice.

The spectrum of themes is divided into five groups. First, the articles deal with the global and regional different changes in religious practice in relation to the processes of socio-cultural modernization processes (individualization and pluralization). Second, they study the development of new forms of public religion (civil religion). Third, they analyse the life history of the formation and transformation of religion (religious development). Fourth, they examine the intercultural and interreligious dimensions of religion on an individual, social and ecclesiastical level (interreligious dialogue, syncretism). Fifth, they attempt to give a critical and constructive interpretation of the ecclesiastical fields of action (church service and sermon, religious instruction, pastoral care and spiritual guidance, organization and management).

In addition to essays, the International Journal of Practical Theology also offers research reports which provide information on the current state of affairs of interdisciplinary and international research of religion as far as this is relevant from a practical and theological point of view. Furthermore, the journal also contains situation reports which reveal the state of discussion of practical theology in various countries, regions and confessions. Finally, it also includes a review section which gives information on important new publications in the field of practical theology.

The International Journal of Practical Theology is neither the organ of a specific theological school nor of a particular ecclesiastical organization. The journal does not aim to present biased opinions of theological schools or confessional organizations but rather place in the foreground of discussion the differences between ecclesiastical and ecclesiastically conveyed practice of religion, the documentation and discussion of its development within its regional context, its international interweavement and different normative orientations. – The contributions are in English or German. A summary (abstract) is given in the other language respectively to give the reader a general idea of the article.

Volume 23 Issue 2

Issue of International Journal of Practical Theology

Frontmatter

Vorwort

Does Church Tax Matter?

The Influence of Church Tax on Leaving the Church

Abstract

What Are They Saying About Church Management? Patterns, Problems, and Considerations for Proceeding

Abstract

Intercession and the Taboo and Stigma on Mental Health and Doctrinal Anomalies: Pastoral and Theological Implications of Public Prayer Practices

Abstract

Challenges of Korean Immigrant Leadership in the Church

Abstract

Improvisieren für mehr Beteiligung am Gottesdienst?

Eine Analyse gegenwärtiger Gottesdienstexperimente mit Impulsen für die Praxis

Abstract

The Qurʾan and Domestic Violence: An Islamic Feminist, Spiritually Integrative Reading of Verse 4:34

Abstract

Practical Theology in Brazil and Latin America Today: An Attempt to Report

Abstract

New Ways of Being Church: The Promise of Fresh Expressions

Abstract

Bernhard Eisel, Schaustellerseelsorge. Lebenswelt und religiöse Wirklichkeitsdeutung von Menschen auf der Reise (Praktische Theologie und Kultur 27), Freiburg i. Br. (Kreuz Verlag) 2019, 351 S., ISBN: 978-3-946905-65-3, Euro (D) 28,00.

Nancy J. Ramsay, ed., Pastoral Theology and Care: Critical Trajectories in Theory and Practice. West Sussex, UK (Wiley-Blackwell) 2018, 190 pp. Ppbk ISBN: 978-1-119-29256-2, $44.95 eBook ISBN: 9781119292593, $35.99 Hrdcr ISBN: 978-1-119-29252-4, $94.95

Schirr, Bertram, Fürbitten als religiöse Performance. Eine ethnographisch-theologische Untersuchung in drei kontrastierenden Berliner Gottesdienstkulturen (Arbeiten zur Praktischen Theologie 70), Leipzig (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) 2018, 416 S., ISBN 978-3-374-05416-9, € (D) 74,00.

Christoph Wiesinger, Authentizität. Eine phänomenologische Annäherung an eine praktisch-theologische Herausforderung (Praktische Theologie in Geschichte und Gegenwart 31), Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2019, 304 S., ISBN 978-3-16-156824-4, Eur (D) 64,00.