Association of Practical Theology in Oceania 2015 Conference
Our colleagues at the Association of Practical Theology in Oceania have sent us their dates, theme, and call for papers for their November 2015 conference. You can find them on Facebook here, website here. Explorations in Practical Theology: Faith and the Political in a Post-Secular Age CONFERENCE THEME: Resurgence in religious consciousness has become a […]
APT on Facebook!
The APT is now on Facebook! Please visit and “like” our FB page and check back often. It will be updated more or less every day. This is a good new forum in which we can keep the conversation going about practical theology and share resources and updates throughout the year. We are in debt […]
Representing Practice: An Assist from Dwight Conquergood, Part 1
I am just now learning about the work of ethnographer, performance theorist, and activist Dwight Conquergood. A friend who was one of his students at Northwestern University referred me to an article he wrote that she thought might intersect helpfully with practical theology, and I think it does. The article is “Performing as a Moral […]
The Ambiguity of (Religious) Practice, Part 4 of 4
Part one is here, part two is here, and part three is here. So I have been laying out (loosely) some elements of thinking about the ambiguity of (religious) practice especially in view of teaching such ambiguity. How do I treat this in the classroom? In the syllabus for my foundations course in practical theology, […]
The Ambiguity of (Religious) Practice, Part 3
Part one is here, and part two is here. I gave some examples of the ambiguity of (religious) practice in earlier posts, and a recent series of articles in the New York Times on abusive prison practices put me in mind of this as well. (See articles here, here, here, and here.) It is important […]
NYC Rally/March for Racial Justice and Practical Theology, Part 2 of 2
Part 1 is here. * This way of thinking intersectionality was initiated by, and remains vital in, scholars developing critical liberative analytical frameworks out of the multiple oppressions encountered by women of color (early on, Kimberle Crenshaw, and more directly influential for many in theological studies, Patricia Hill Collins). Recently in practical theology, it has […]
Last Week's NYC Rally/March for Racial Justice and Practical Theology, Part 1
In a recent post, I invited updates about how religious communities and other practical-theology-intensive places are making sense of and acting in relationship to the heightened public awareness of violence in/through law enforcement toward communities of color and disprivilege. I thought I would take my invitation as an occasion to post a note about a […]
Updates from Baltimore and Beyond?
Any APT members who are in or near Baltimore, Ferguson, New York City, North Charleston, Phoenix, Cleveland, St. Louis, Southfield, Washington, Austin, or anywhere that has been touched by violence in the relationship between law enforcement/state power and communities of color — indeed, every community in the USA has a stake in what is happening […]
The Ambiguity of (Religious) Practice, Part 2
Recent I wrote up Part 1 on this topic, introducing a little series on the ways that ambiguities of practice matter for practical theology. With the recent important debate about the USA’s drone warfare in the news, and the accompanying contrasts between public outcry about–and congressional oversight and criticism of–the USA’s detention/torture practices (little oversight, […]
Less Than a Year Until APT Biennial Meeting!
Dear APT Members and Friends: We are less than a year until our next APT Biennial Meeting, our every-two-years conference where we gather to share research, delve deeply into a practical theological theme, catch up with old friends and colleagues, and make new ones. The Biennial will be held at Fordham University in New York […]