Brief Reflections on Practical Theology in Amsterdam

I am on the way home from the International Academy of Practical Theology, which met in Amsterdam, Holland over the last several days. The theme of the conference was “desire,” and the 120 or so in attendance heard thoughtful and challenging plenary addresses on desire as seen from cultural studies, pastoral, ethical, and theological perspectives. There were also ample opportunities to hear current research in practical theology at the many paper sessions, as well as Sunday excursions to any of a number sites of pastoral work in the area. It was a very well-planned, well-paced, and energizing conference, held close to Amsterdam’s downtown, keeping the energy of the city always close to the theological conversation at the Vrije Universiteit.
In a recent post, I mentioned that there are a variety of ways that scholars of practical theology picture their work. It is true that we often cannot agree even on the very basics about what we are doing, but this is typical of almost any academic discipline and can be a sign of vitality as much as vagueness. In this post, I will  not try to solve these deep conundrums!
I only want to note what a conference, and especially the friendships that a  conference can renew and deepen, can tell us about this conundrum: that far from being a matter of a “conflict” of “schools of thought” or of abstractly taken ideological positions in theology, the diversity of definitions of practical theology has as much to do with theologians’ autobiographies as anything else. Again and again, in talking with friends and colleagues over many days, I learned (and was able to share myself) how the push and pull of life, the vicissitudes of institutions and socio-political-geographical locations, and the stubborn persistence of psycho-spiritual tastes and proclivities and needs all conspire to “make” us do certain kinds of theology, and even to do practical theology under particular definitions. An early childhood memory, a life-changing experience in adolescence, a crisis in adult life, a demand from one’s family, church, neighborhood, dean or chair that ended up becoming a permanent shift in focus. So much of theological life is the rehearsal of these accumulated life experiences, worked up into methods, commitments, pedagogies, research agendas.
But the funny thing is that we so seldom foreground this “ground” of theological practice. We are far more likely to portray ourselves as working from theories, from often-reified categories of identity, or from supposedly evident or normative theological truths. I felt that my theological learning in the conference was as much around the table, at the bar, during the walkabout, or in the coffee breaks, as in the sessions themselves. One would think that practical theologians could be capable of foregrounding such realities in our work. Especially because that is where some of the real desires come through at their least guarded. We shall see.
TB
In flight between Amsterdam and Newark, New Jersey