Elaine Graham, Heather Walton, and Frances Ward, Theological Reflection: Sources (London: SCM Press, 2007), viii + 455 Pps., $35.00.
Elaine Graham is Samuel Ferguson Professor of Social and Pastoral Theology at the University of Manchester. She is the author of Makingthe Difference: Gender, Personhood and Theology (Mowbray, 1995), Transforming Practice (Mowbray, 2002) and Representations of the Post/Human (Manchester, 2002). Heather Walton is Lecturer in Practical Theology at the University of Glasgow. She is co-editor, with Susan Durber, of Silence in Heaven: a Book of Women’s Preaching (SCM, 1994). Frances Ward is Residentiary Canon at Bradford Cathedral, West Yorkshire. She is author of Lifelong Learning: Theological Education and Supervision (SCM, 2005) and co-editor of Studying Local Churches: A Handbook (SCM, 2005). This book is the companion volume to Theological Reflection: Methods, which was published in September 2005, by the same authors.
Following the same topics as the Methods volume, the material here deals with the same divisions, descriptions and features. The identified models are: The Living Human Document, Constructive Narrative Theology, Canonical Narrative Theology, Corporate Theological Reflection, The Correlative Method, Performative or Praxis Theological Reflection, and Theology in the Vernacular. The authors note that over the last 25 years, the identity of practical theology has been subject to considerable revision. Unfortunately, with its emphasis on the immediate imperatives of ministry, theological education proceeds with no clear idea of how traditional sources such as Christian Scriptures are to be handled; moreover, it lacks proper integration with other fields such as biblical studies, systematic theology, and the history of Christianity. This ignores the fact that ‘theological reflection’ is the hallmark of the Christian tradition, and the authors attempt to reclaim this tradition in this volume. By ‘practical theology’ the authors mean the movement among seminary and university faculty that makes the process of formation of Christian community and personhood in the world thematic for critical reflection. In what follows, the various models of theological reflection shall be examined.
In ‘Theology by Heart’, the authors note that this method of theological reflection looks to the self and the interior life as the primary space in which theological awareness is generated and nurtured (51). They note that this method comes to its explicit formation with Augustine, and is marked by dialogue with self or with God, based upon ruthless self-examination; the texts that result are ‘Living Human Documents’. Speaking in parables, according to the authors, is constructive narrative theology (chapter two). This constructive narrative theology is built upon two convictions: 1) that humans create their world through the telling of stories, and 2) that Christians worship a story-telling God (89). Canonical Narrative Theology, as the name itself suggests, is a form of theological reflection that is based upon the story of Jesus as told in Scripture (chapter three). Therein, the authors relate, this form of theological reflection contends that the Gospel stories contain the key to interpreting the whole of existence.
The Corporate Theological Reflection model is foremost a corporate activity, with an attending shift of emphasis toward the congregation from the individual (chapter four). How the community of faith engages its seminal texts falls under the umbrella of this model of theological reflection. The Correlative Method, outlined in chapter five, conceives of theological reflection as occurring via a process of conversation between Christian revelation and surrounding culture. The authors note that this method is still evolving, as it contends that the crucial test of the coherence and authenticity of the Christian tradition is based upon its readiness to be exposed to the scrutiny of non-Christian worldviews (269).
Perhaps best associated with the liberation theological movement, the Performative or Praxis model of theological reflection insists upon the freedom of belief, action, and worship, and whose adherence to such ideas leads them into conflict with institutional religion (chapter five). Theology in the Vernacular is based upon the conviction that Christian theology does not exist in abstraction, but in specific cultural contexts instead (chapter six). These local theologians speak with the idioms, symbols, and narrative forms of everyday life.
This reader is aimed at postgraduates and academics interested in the expanding volume of work and research surrounding theological reflection. Volume one of this series described and identified the various models whilst this new second volume fleshes-out these descriptions by allowing the reader access to a variety of sources and examples of writings within these models. It is an assemblage of primary sources in order to demonstrate each method in greater detail and to indicate the versatility of each approach. For those readers who are looking for further readings on each model, the authors have included a short bibliography of further references that they were unable to include in the chapters themselves. All in all, this is a profitable read for views upon contemporary theological methodology.
Bradford McCall
Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA.