Writing Methods in Theological Reflection

Heather Walton

Description

Writing Methods in Theological Reflection offers a stimulating, provocative and accessible book that will be of use to students and practitioners who are seeking ways to use their own experience in the work of spiritual and theological reflection.

Informations

• Publié par: Hymns Ancient & Modern
• Date de parution: 12 août 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780334051879
• Langue: English

Extrait

Writing Methods in Theological Reflection
Writing Methods in Theological Reflection
Heather Walton
© Heather Walton 2014

Published in 2014 by SCM Press
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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 05185 5



Typeset by Manila Typesetting Company
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon
For my sister Helen
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Reflective Theological Writing
Part 1: Autoethnography
1  Approaching Autoethnography
2  Calls to Preach
3  Betraying Faith
4  Desiring Things
Part 2: Journalling
5  Approaching Journalling
6  The Course Outline: Teaching Theology through Creative Writing
7  Between Ascension and Pentecost: Towards a Theology of Adoption
8  Sad Summer Days
Part 3: Life Writing
9  Approaching Life Writing
10  Bindweed
11  The Divine Economy of Motherhood
12  Wild Gardens on the Edge of the World
Part 4: Poetics, Theology and Practice
13  Approaching Poetics
14  Poetics and Practical Theology
15  Poetics and Public Theology
16  Poetics and Pastoral Care
17  Seeking Wisdom in Practical Theology: Phronesis , Poetics and Everyday Life
Bibliography
Name and Subject Index
Acknowledgements
This book is dedicated to Helen, my kind, wise and lovely sister. It comes with love and thanks to my partner, Reinier, who proof read with great ‘patience’ all its pages. And with love and gratitude to our daughter, who inspired so much of what is written here.
There are a number of people who have encouraged me in reflective theological writing over the years. First, my mother Hazel, a gifted and original preacher, inspired me to be daring when I spoke about God. Colleagues and friends from the Northern Federation for Training in Ministry in Manchester were the first to support me in the shared development of our reflective writing; special thanks go to Richard Kidd, Susan Durber, Mary Cotes and Frances Ward. In Glasgow, David and Alison Jasper have patiently listened to many of these works and offered valuable insights into their revision. I have benefited so much from the critical companionship of members of the Centre for Literature, Theology and the Arts at Glasgow during the past 16 years. I count myself very fortunate to have been part of this radical and inclusive community. Many of the postgraduate researchers associated with the Centre have made important contributions to my writing, but especial thanks are due to Anna Fisk, Elizabeth Anderson, Jennifer Reek, Mark Godin and Alana Vincent. My colleagues in Practical Theology at Glasgow University have also significantly shaped my understanding of theology and practice; thanks go to Doug Gay, Vicky Gunn and Leah Robinson. I am grateful for the perceptive research assistance of Ioulia Kolovou and also to Meg MacDonald for her continuing support.
The Development of the Doctorate in Practical Theology, under the auspices of the British and Irish Association for Practical Theology, has enabled me to work closely with colleagues from a number of universities in developing theological reflection among doctoral researchers. I have received important challenges and much kindness from my friends Stephen Pattison and Zoe Bennett. Elaine Graham’s friendship over many years has been a continuing source of energy, inspiration and new ideas.
Further afield I would like to thank Will Storrar for enabling me to attend the Writing Theology Workshop held at the Center for Theo logical Inquiry in Princeton in 2010. Bonnie Miller-McLemore has encour aged me to keep writing in my peculiar way, and Pam Couture and Claire Wolfteich have been keen advocates for the establishment of poetics as a vital resource in practical theology.
I would also like to thank a number of publishers for permission to reprint versions of previously published work. ‘Calls to Preach’ was originally published as ‘Calls to Preach: Constructing Vocational Theology’ in Practical Theology 2:1 (2009), and ‘Seeking Wisdom in Practical Theology: Phronesis , Poetics and Everyday Life’ was originally given as a plenary lecture to the British and Irish Association for Practical Theology and later published in Practical Theology 7:1 (2014); Maney Publishing gave permission for their republication here. ‘Desiring Things’ was originally published as ‘Desiring Things: Practical Theology and the New Materialisms’ in Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Ruard Ganzevoort and Rein Brouwer (eds), City of Desires: A Place for God ; Lit Verlag granted permission for reuse. ‘The Course Outline: Teaching Theology through Creative Writing’ was originally published in The Journal of Adult Theological Education 9:2 (2013), and permission was granted for reuse by Acumen. ‘Poetics and Practical Theology’ was originally published as ‘Poetics’ in Bonnie Miller-McLemore’s edited collection The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology , and permission was granted by Wiley-Blackwell for its inclusion here. ‘Poetics and Public The ology’ was originally published as ‘You Have to Say You Cannot Speak: Feminist Reflections upon Public Theology’ in The International Journal of Public Theology 4:1 (2010), and permission was given to reprint here by Brill. ‘Poetics and Pastoral Care’ was originally published as ‘Speaking in Signs: Narrative and Trauma in Practical Theology’, in the Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy 5:2 (2002). Ian Stirling kindly granted editorial permission for its reuse. Natalie Watson, at SCM Press, has supported this project throughout with kindness, wit and good advice.
Heather Walton
Glasgow, January 2014
Introduction Reflective Theological Writing
The Challenge to Write from Life
The requirement to reflect and write about experience from a theological perspective has increasingly become a cornerstone of practice-based learning and theological education. This is part of a shift in emphasis away from traditional pedagogical models founded upon knowledge acquisition and skills training. The intention is to foster a perception and awareness of God in the midst of life which will enable people of faith to orientate their practice according to their beliefs and values – and also to communicate their convictions in ways that are rooted in and relevant to the cultural context in which we live.
However, in my teaching, examining and engagement with pastoral practitioners, I have encountered a great deal of confusion and anxiety about what form this reflective writing should take; what a text of theological reflection should actually look, sound and read like. The guidance varies, and frequently there is little advice given at all. It is assumed that theological reflection will develop organically from the life of faith and find its way unmediated onto the written page. In my experience this is never the case. There is thus a growing and urgent need to provide tools to support this work. It is equally important to undergird the growing interest in reflective writing with a theoretical interrogation of both its principles and its purposes. These practical and critical ambitions are both equally present within this text.
This book is also born out of my own reflective writing practice over many years. In response to various personal and professional challenges I have learnt to write ‘on-the-job’ in many different genres, each with its own distinct conventions. I have kept spiritual journals and journals to support projects of social research. I have written sermons and liturgies. I have published academic books and articles and penned papers to be ‘performed’ in classrooms, church assemblies and conference halls. I have produced works of life writing that have enabled me to negotiate difficult periods in my personal life, and I have also published texts as acts of political commitment. My conviction that good writing is always contextually located and painstakingly constructed, however natural and artless it appears to be, has been born directly out of these various productive processes. It is my hope that through discussing and displaying my own work some of the implicit ‘rules’ at work in writing for theological reflection will become clearer, and that this will prove helpful to emerging theological writers, whether they be students, practitioners, spiritual seekers or academics.
For the challenge to write experiences as a means of articulating faith or values is a daunting one. The fact that it now routinely appears as an integral part of the theological curriculum by no means less