Events

© BIAPT 2007

Events

IAPT conference: Theology and Public Life - Practical Theology in an Age of Pluralism

Manchester, April 11th-16th, 2003

For more details about the International Academy of Practical Theology, visit their website at http://www.ia-pt.org/

To all members of the Academy

You are cordially invited to participate in the sixth biennial conference of the International Academy for Practical Theology, to be held at the Chancellors Conference Centre, Moseley Road, Fallowfield, Manchester from April 11th to 16th, 2003. This first conference mailing gives an outline of the conference theme, a provisional programme for the week, details of how to apply to give a seminar paper and miscellaneous information to help you in your forward planning.

The theme: speaking of God in public

Our conference theme for 2003 explores the relationship between the concerns of Practical Theology and those of 'public theology'. The Chicago-based theologian David Tracy identified the task of Christian theology as addressing three distinct constituencies, or 'publics': church, society and the academy; and one of our concerns during the conference will be to understand how practical theology emerges from, and engages with, these three contexts, and how the interplay between them shapes the nature of theological understanding and Christian practice throughout the world today.

Some traditions of public theology, especially in Europe and North America, have emerged from cultural and social contexts in which the relationship between society and Christianity is assumed to be close and harmonious. Christianity as 'public truth' is a straightforward concept, in which the revealed values of faith correspond to a broader social consensus; organized religion may well find itself closely intertwined with many of the established institutions and authorities of 'secular' society. For other cultures, the structures of civil society and political participation may be in need of regeneration, with traditions of religious faith being called upon to help construct a robust system of public values, justice and citizenship. In other contexts, where Christianity is a minority culture, theology may speak with the voice of protest, resistance or prophesy. And between these three alternatives, of establishment, reconstruction and opposition, are many other ways of considering the relationship of theology to public life. One of our aims during the conference will therefore be to explore the diversity of experience within our international membership. We will be meeting regularly in small discussion groups to listen to our shared experience of public theology in local context; and we will also be engaging with the many manifestations of public theology through our plenary lecture presentations.

'Public theology' is often equated with the kinds of relationship that exist between faith-communities and the formal political process. However, 'speaking of God in public' is not simply a matter of Church-State relations; and so we will also be considering the interplay between practical theology and the wider social and cultural context beyond the institutional churches: not only the State, but the academy, business and the market, family life, racial justice, civil society, political movements and popular culture, including the news media, entertainment and the arts. Does theology have anything to offer to such constituencies; can we 'speak of God in public' in ways that addresses the realities of everyday life, beyond the gathered Church?

We will also be drawing on our local context, and the twin cities of Manchester and Salford, as another resource for our conference. Britain is conventionally thought of as a predominantly Christian country, with established churches in England and Scotland, where public life in all its manifestations is imbued with shared religious values. In many ways, however, twenty-first century Britain is a largely secular society, as the institutional churches dwindle numerically and drift to the margins of most people's consciousness. Yet even this picture fails to capture the full story: religion endures in many, often unexpected forms, such as popular culture or public ceremonies, for example. Manchester and Salford, too, are typical of many other British cities in their evident cultural and ethnic pluralism, representing cultures in which religion, far from declining, persists as a vital source of community life and identity. Can we 'speak of God in public' by joining in partnerships of renewal, tackling poverty and social exclusion, and by rebuilding fragmented communities?

And in particular, as we look at, listen to and experience some of the local issues in Manchester and Salford, we hope to see how theological questions are never far from the surface. Over the past decade, the urban landscape of Manchester and Salford has been transformed: the first industrial city of the nineteenth century, which saw its pre-eminence decline during the twentieth, is undergoing a dramatic rejuvenation as a twenty-first century metropolis. We will have the chance to see how faith-communities have played their part in the process of regeneration, and how religious images and narratives are being reworked - how 'the sacred' is re-engaging with 'the secular' in aspects of urban design and economic renewal. Can we 'speak of God in public' amidst the vernacular spiritualities of the built environment and the secular temples of retailing, sport and popular culture?

Finally, we will have the opportunity to evaluate how the changing face of theology in public affects our practice as practical theologians - educators, activists, counsellors, ministers, communicators and researchers. Can we help one another in developing patterns of pedagogy, formation, team-building and research which help us to mediate creatively and constructively between theological tradition and public issues?

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Further reading:

AMMERMAN, Nancy (1997), Congregation and Community. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
ATHERTON, John R. (2000), Public Theology for Changing Times. London: SPCK.
BROWNING, Don S. and FIORENZA, Francis S. (eds) (1992), Habermas, Modernity, and Public Theology. New York, Crossroad.
BOYLE, Nicholas (1998), Who Are We Now? Christian Humanism and the Global Market from Hegel to Heaney. University of Notre Dame Press.
CNAAN, Ram (1999), The Newer Deal: Social Work and Religion in Partnership. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.
DEMERATH, Jay (2001), Crossing the Gods: World Religions and Worldly Politics. New Jersey: Rutgers Univ. Press.
FORRESTER, Duncan B. (1997), Christian Justice and Public Policy. Cambridge Univ. Press.
HARRIS, Margaret (1998), Organizing God's Work: Challenges for Churches and Synagogues. London: Macmillan.
THIEMANN, Ronald (1996), Religion in Public Life: a Dilemma for Democracy. Washington, DC, Georgetown University Press.
TRACY, David (1981), The Analogical Imagination. London: SCM Press.
Villa-Vicencio, Charles (1992), A Theology of Reconstruction: Nation-building and Human rights. Cambridge Univ. Press.

Programme Content and Structure

On Friday evening, we will spend time introducing the theme and getting to know one another. On Saturday, we will be introducing the idea of 'public theology' by considering its historic and contemporary use, with particular reference to British, North American and South African experiences. We will also be developing the theme through discussion groups, which will meet regularly to discuss matters arising from lecture and other plenary presentations and to listen to the many perspectives on public theology represented within our own membership. Our President, Marcel Viau, will also give a lecture on Saturday evening. On Sunday, which is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week, we will engage with elements of the Biblical and liturgical tradition by shaping a corporate act of worship around the Passion narratives of the New Testament: Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and his trial under Pilate. What do these traditions of Jesus confronting State power reveal to us about the Gospel in relation to public life, of the theological nature of political witness? These reflections will also continue in our short acts of morning prayer during the week.

On Monday, we will spend the morning visiting a number of local projects around Manchester and Salford, reflecting on particular examples of community action, economic regeneration, theological education and urban geography in the light of our understandings of public theology. In the afternoon, after our visits, participants will be free to explore the city further and to relax a little. (This means that lunch and evening meal on Monday will not be provided at Chancellors). When we return to work on Tuesday, we will explore the prospects for articulating public theology in cultures and political situations where Christianity is in a minority or marginal position.

Seminar themes are as follows:

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