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Reforming Practical Theology ESSAY Reforming Practical Theology: Can a Reformed Theologian Have Scripture and Practice too? Graham Stanton Practical theology is ‘a “performative” theological discipline’, which means we do things to know God, as well as think about them’.1 Speaking as practical theologians, Root and Dean contend that ‘all decent theology begins and ends in practice’.2 In contrast, Reformed theology asserts that ‘truth and experience do not have exactly the same footing. Truth, rightly understood, may correct experience, but not the other way around’.3 The difference is not just in methodology but in theology, since, ‘Because we are summoned by God I cannot construct theology myself, either through spec- ulation or through critical reflection on praxis’.4 On the surface it appears that the battle lines are drawn between practi- cal theologians who exegete practice, and reformed theologians who exegete Scripture. Yet this is both an exaggeration and a false dichotomy. Theological reflection requires consideration of context as much as exegesis of Scripture. The challenge is to understand properly the relationship and theological or- dering between the two. In particular, for reformed thinkers working in the field of youth min- istry, practical theology provides an effective method for engaging the cul- tural phenomenon of adolescence unknown in the biblical world. Academic reflection on youth ministry in the reformed tradition therefore demands a theology of practice and experience integrally connected with the discipline JOURNAL OF YOUTH & THEOLOGY - VOLUME 12 NUMBER 1 2013 74 1 Kenda Creasy Dean, OMG: A youth ministry handbook, Abingdon, Nashville, 2010, p. 116. 2 Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean, The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry, IVP, Downers Grove, 2011, p. 15. 3 Carson, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a movement and its implications, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2005, p. 219. 4 Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A systematic theology for pilgrims on the way, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2011, p. 90. While Horton is particularly distancing reformed covenantal theology from liberation theology, the critique of critical reflection on praxis applies equally to practical theology. of biblical theology. The aim of this paper is to propose an understanding of theological knowledge derived from the interpretation of practice that is consistent with a reformed emphasis on the final authority of Scripture as the ‘norming norm’ of all Christian thought and practice. Two non-theological theories of practice will be reviewed in order to inform our understanding of practi- cal theology from a reformed perspective. An illustration of the relationship between Scripture, theology and practice will be drawn from Peter’s sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2 before outlining two principles that could shape youth ministry education in light of a reformed practical theology. THEOLOGY THAT BEGINS AND ENDS IN PRACTICE Practical theologians essentially engage in three core tasks in a recur- sive cycle. Practical theology begins with a descriptive/analytic task in order to give voice to the values and theories implied in praxis. The normative task then engages the insights gained from the descriptive/analytic task with the resources of the Christian tradition in order to discern which formulations of the faith (in both theory and practice) are authentically ‘Christian’. Practical theology culminates in a performative task that seeks to embody renewed un- derstanding of God’s actions (determined in the first two tasks) in renewed practice.5 The three tasks create a cycle where the final performative task leads to a renewed practice, creating a new context for further cycles of prac- tical theological inquiry. Herein lies the particular value of practical theology for the study of youth ministry. Youth ministers have largely been known as ‘activists’ rather than theologians; more concerned with the ‘how’ than the ‘why’. Given the demands of energetic teenagers and anxious parents it is understandable that the practicing youth minister is particularly concerned with what to do this coming Friday night. Yet it is essential that such plans be theologically and not merely pragmatically driven. Practical theology provides a method- ology that maintains the interest in practice without sacrificing the challeng- es of theological rigour. Practical theology therefore presents to the study of JOURNAL OF YOUTH & THEOLOGY - VOLUME 12 NUMBER 1 2013 youth ministry a helpful methodology within which to explore the practices 75 involved in discipling young people. Promising though practical theology appears for the study of youth ministry, it is precisely at the point of helpful contribution that the key con- cerns are raised from the perspective of the reformed tradition. The priority 5 These three tasks are adapted from Osmer’s four: Osmer separates the descriptive- analytic task into two, distinguishing between a descriptive-empirical task and an interpretive task (Richard Osmer, Practical Theology: An introduction, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2008)..
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