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Hymns Ancient & Modern - Helen Collins

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121 pages

English

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Description

Offering an alternative to the usual models of theological reflection, this careful and helpful guide demonstrates to students the possibilities which emerge when the starting point for theological reflective practice.

Sujets

Religion

Christianisme

Christian Theology

Philosophie et théologie

Informations

Publié par	Hymns Ancient & Modern
Date de parution	10 juillet 2020
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780334058588
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1000€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Reordering Theological Reflection
Starting with Scripture
Helen Collins

© Helen Collins 2020
Published in 2020 by SCM Press
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SCM Press is an imprint of Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd (a registered charity)

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, SCM Press.
The Author has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the Author of this Work
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
978-0-334-05856-4
Typeset by Regent Typesetting
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd

Acknowledgements
I wish to express thanks to a number of people who have contributed in significant ways to the completion of this book. My colleagues at Trinity College, Bristol have been an enormous source of support, encouragement and challenge through the many ups and downs of the writing process. Particular thanks go to Justin Stratis, Jamie Davis and Jon Coutts for their expertise, humour and willingness to read and comment on draft chapters. Their enduring commitment to rigorous scholarship as worship in service of the Church has taught me how to be a Christian theologian.
The students of Trinity College have been gracious and enthusiastic guinea pigs for my project. Having the classroom as a regular forum to test out concepts and ideas is an immense privilege and I am so grateful to the students for their generous contributions in discussions and through their assignments. I am particularly indebted to the students in my pastoral groups over the years for their questions, prayers and insights, which have continually informed my thinking. The postgraduate community at Trinity has been a vibrant and creative place for working through definitions and concepts of Practical Theology and this is where the idea for this book was first sparked.
As testified to in the Introduction, my growing interest in theological reflection is intertwined with my own vocational journey, to which there are too many contributors to name them all personally. However, particular thanks go to my Christ the Servant colleagues for teaching me how, regularly and faithfully, to pray and read the Bible in church as the only foundation for that which we call Christian ministry.
Finally, my family has made significant sacrifices to give me the time and space that writing needs. Their constant love, support and lack of interest in the details of my research have been vital sources of sanity and joy. Simon, Phoebe, Lydia and Archie will particularly want to see their names in print, even though they will, almost certainly, not read beyond this page.

Contents
List of Figures

1. Envisaging the Project: An Introduction
2. Clearing the Ground: An Appraisal of Theological Reflection Education
3. Laying the Foundations: The Bible in Theological Reflection
4. Consulting the Architect: The Holy Spirit in Theological Reflection
5. Selecting the Materials: Experience in Theological Reflection
6. Building the Structure: A Model for Theological Reflection for Formation
7. Moving In: Examples of the Scriptural Cycle in Use
8. Assessing the Project: A Conclusion

Bibliography

List of Figures
Figure 1. Theological Reflection in Ministry
Figure 2. The Doing Theology Spiral
Figure 3. Cartledge’s Dialectic Model of Practical Theology
Figure 4. The Scriptural Cycle, Stage 1: Scripture
Figure 5. The Scriptural Cycle, Stage 2: Testimony
Figure 6. The Scriptural Cycle, Stage 3: Discernment
Figure 7. The Scriptural Cycle, Stage 4: Encounter
Figure 8. The Scriptural Cycle, Stage 5: Participation

1. Envisaging the Project: An Introduction
My Theological Reflection ‘Journey’
The first time I ever remember hearing the phrase ‘theological reflection’ was when I attended a Bishop’s Advisory Panel to discern whether I was being called to ordained ministry in the Church of England. There was an exercise called the Pastoral Letter that candidates had to complete, and one of the criteria for a successful letter was that it ‘reflected theologically’ on the situation. By this time, I had a BA in Theology and an MA in the Social Anthropology of Religion, but I had never encountered this concept of ‘theological reflection’ before. In the absence of any guidance, my evangelical instincts assumed that it must mean that I should quote as many Bible verses as possible to back up my pastoral response. Needless to say, the advisors did not think too much of my less-than-pastoral letter!
Upon recommendation, I trained for ordination on a full-time, residential course where I was soon immersed into the world of Corporate Theological Reflections (CTRs). Pattison’s significant article ‘Some Straw for the Bricks’ notes that ‘students undertaking placements on pastoral studies courses are bidden with monotonous regularity to indulge in theological reflection’ (1989, p. 2), and this was certainly my experience. Every few weeks, my pastoral group would engage in a theological reflection together. Most of the time seemed to be spent selecting the ‘best critical incident’ to discuss – without much clarity about the criteria for ‘best’. Once identified, we had a fairly enjoyable time dissecting the motives, agendas and emotions of the people involved, thinking about relationships and power dynamics and seeking to ‘get under the skin’ of the incident. At some point, the facilitator would remind us that time was running away and that we needed a theological resource to bring into the conversation. What then followed was usually a confused smorgasbord of biblical references and stories, with varying degrees of justification for their relevance. Again, we would select the ‘best’ one to discuss, and would try, half-heartedly, to use the skills of exegesis that we were learning in our lectures. It was always a confusing moment for me when someone would start to say, ‘I think I can see how this might be a bit like the situation …’, and someone else would say, ‘Don’t start to make any links, we’re not at that bit of the process yet!’ Invariably, we would have only five minutes remaining before it was lunchtime to try and make the connections between the situation and the biblical passage and we hardly ever had time to identify any actions that should result. Its most valuable contribution seemed to me to be the opportunity to engage in reflective practice, exploring a situation in depth from different perspectives and gaining some insights into other people and ourselves.
Alongside this, I was embarking upon PhD research into the experience of motherhood within charismatic churches and was learning about the field of practical theology in which the research would be situated. My reading led me deeply into practical theology epistemologies and methodologies, theories of application and correlation, hermeneutics, praxis and methods. Within this context, theological reflection came to be mostly associated with theory, model and method as I worked out my own model for reflecting upon and interpreting the data I collected (see Collins 2018). However, these insights in my academic work never seemed able to infiltrate our pastoral group CTRs in any meaningful or helpful way.
Once ordained, I had the privilege to work with other colleagues, and our weekly team prayer meetings became the focus of our theological reflection (although we did not call it that). Each week we would read the lectionary Bible readings for the day and discuss the passages, asking questions of the text and one another, trying to relate it to our ministry situations and then collecting up our reflections in intercession. Our main concern was, ‘What does God seem to be saying to us today through this passage and how should we respond?’ Sometimes we stumbled upon profound insights, other times we struggled to find any meaning or relevance. In this context, theological reflection became more of a spiritual discipline, a habitual way of thinking and being, as we wrestled with our callings and contexts within the wider Christian story.
Now, I find myself a tutor in practical theology in a theological college that particularly trains students for ministry, and I am responsible for students’ practical training and Anglican formation. My main engagement with theological reflection is twofold. First, it is focused on teaching students how to engage with this practice for the purposes of ministerial/Christian formation. Therefore, my interest has evolved to include the pedagogy of how students learn to use the models and methods of theological reflection and how they are formed by them. Second, within our multi-disciplinary faculty, my role seems to have become chief advocate for the theological basis for and legitimacy of practical theology in response to their puzzlement about the discipline. It is in this stimulating environment that this book was conceived.
The Purpose of this Book
This book is an attempt to bring together the various experiences of theological reflection narrated above and to suggest a renewed method and model for theological reflection specifically for theology students and ministerial pract