Pastoral-practical theology : An impression from Oceania

[Extract] This chapter offers a mode of operation for pastoral-practical theology through the medium of five indispensable characteristics, each emphasising the importance of the ‘turn to experience’, as a source, along with scripture and tradition for theologising. Agreement on a definition for pastoral or practical theology oscillates down the decades; it remains a work-in-progress, both within the church and the wider global theological academy. The focus of this chapter is not to debate definitions of pastoral-practical theology, but rather to explore some of the essential elements of the discipline. Whilst writing out of the Catholic tradition, I feel drawn to the mystical, eschatological and possible non-‘practical’ sensibilities that resonate with the designate ‘pastoral’. Although, I concede, in most academic circles this particular nomenclature is presently not in vogue. Indeed, Wesley Carr warns of the overuse of the term ‘pastoral’, indicating that the word has become ‘broken-backed’ through being ‘indiscriminately applied’ and often used to obfuscate issues, ‘avoid hard decisions or to escape the charge of unclarity’