Theological reflection on the church’s practice is now recognised as a significant element in theological studies in the academy and seminary. Routledge's series in practical, pastoral and empirical theology seeks to foster this resurgence of interest and encourage new developments in practical and applied aspects of theology worldwide. This timely series draws together a wide range of disciplinary approaches and empirical studies to embrace contemporary developments including: the expansion of research in empirical theology, psychological theology, ministry studies, public theology, Christian education and faith development; key issues of contemporary society such as health, ethics and the environment; and more traditional areas of concern such as pastoral care and counselling.
Edited
By Graeme Smith, Andrew Todd
December 03, 2024
Future Faith: Public and Practical Theologies for the Contemporary World explores what is needed for theology to survive and thrive in the next generation. As well as declining student numbers and pressures on university theology departments, churches are increasingly questioning the ...
By Catherine Lambert
November 12, 2024
Dissident Women, Beguines, and the Quest for Spiritual Authority focuses on the responses of a group of twenty-first-century women to the lives and writings of thirteenth-century beguine mystics, and reveals how the struggle to discover their own inner spiritual authority connects two groups of ...
By Caroline Yih
June 21, 2024
This book explores the unique challenges of disenfranchisement faced by Christian chaplains working within the secular and pluralistic context of contemporary healthcare. The case study focuses on practitioners in Hong Kong and showcases the utilisation of interpretative phenomenological analysis (...
By Jim Horsthuis
May 27, 2024
This book articulates a perichoretic pastoral theology, offering a pastoral theological response to the question of how ministering persons practice ministry in communion with the triune God. Key elements from contemporary pastoral theology—theologies of human experience, concern for human ...
Edited
By Elizabeth Phillips, Férdia J. Stone-Davis
March 29, 2024
This book explores how the themes and insights of official Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and broader Catholic social thought might illuminate, and be illuminated by, a deeper engagement with the context of prisons. What resources might Catholic social thought bring to pastoral work in prisons? And...
Edited
By Helen Morris, Helen Cameron
September 25, 2023
This book aims to introduce a distinctively evangelical voice to the discipline of practical theology. Evangelicals have sometimes seen practical theology as primarily a ‘liberal’ project. This collection, however, actively engages with practical theology from an evangelical perspective, both ...
Edited
By Nicola Slee, Dawn Llewellyn, Kim Wasey, Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz
August 11, 2023
This book explores female faith practices, drawing on qualitative research to consider how women navigate and create spiritual and religious practices. The chapters cover Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist contexts as well as newer spiritual movements. The contributors examine prayer and ritual...
By Geoff Broughton
September 26, 2022
This book sets out a Christological framework for developing and delivering pastoral supervision. Pastoral supervision is a key consideration for any denomination, congregation, or faith-based organisation, so this is a vital resource for well-being for clergy, chaplains, and a wide array of ...
By Katie Cross
May 06, 2022
This book draws on a study of the Sunday Assembly- a "godless congregation"- to reflect on how the Church might better deal with suffering, lament and theodicy. Against a backdrop of a shifting attitudes towards religion, humans are now better connected than ever before. It is no exaggeration to ...
By Nicola Slee
April 28, 2004
Presenting a rich account of women's faith lives and, mapping women's meanings in their own right, this book offers an alternative to dominant accounts of faith development which failed to account for women's experience. Drawing on Fowler's faith development theory, feminist models of women's ...
By Clare Watkins
March 18, 2020
From 2006 to 2011 researchers at Heythrop College and the Oxford Centre for ecclesiology and Practical Theology (OxCEPT, Ripon College Cuddesdon) worked on a theological and action research project: "Action Research – Church and Society (ARCS). 2010 saw the publication of Talking About God in ...
Edited
By Christopher Southgate, Carla Grosch-Miller, Hilary Ison, Megan Warner
October 07, 2019
When tragedy strikes a community, it is often unexpected with long-lasting effects on the people left in its wake. Too often, there aren’t adequate systems in place to aid those affected in processing what has happened. This study uniquely combines practical theology, pastoral insight and ...