Een gereformeerde visie op praktische theologie

Samenvatting

In the past few years, the section Practical Theology of the so-called Promovendi-beraad (seminar of PhD-students within the Gereformeerde Bond (Reformed Association) of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands) deliberated practice and nature of Reformed practical theology. A shared definition regarding practical theology resulted: practical theology is a theological discipline with an empirical orientation that investigates scientifically the individual and collective configurations of the practice of believing. She does her research from within and holds on to a view of the church in her relation to contemporary society. This article presents and discusses that definition. The search for the Reformed character of practical theology ends with the hypothesis that it is to be found on the level of the scholar’s analysis of theological theory.