Reordering Theological Reflection

Starting with Scripture

Helen Collins

• Publisher: SCM Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780334058564
• eBook ISBN: 9780334058588
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

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.

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 practitioners who wish to be formed for participation in Christ’s ongoing ministry. Its subsidiary purpose is to address the field of practical theology and colleagues in other theological disciplines with a renewed vision for practical theology. Before I introduce this renewed model and method, I outline the issues with which this book seeks to engage.

As a tutor, I regularly encounter students’ frustrations with theological reflection, as I described for myself above. This frustration is well documented in the literature. Graham, Walton and Ward observe that theological reflection ‘asks the student to perform feats of intellectual and practical integration that no one on the faculty seems prepared to demonstrate’ (2007, p. 5). Likewise, Thompson notes that ‘people cannot really see what they are being invited to do and how this really can add value to their lives, thought and faith’ (2019, p. 7). Research into the effectiveness of training in theological reflection revealed that:

Concepts and methods of [theological reflection] as understood and taught in training are, at best, irrelevant to the ministry of newly ordained clergy. At worst, they seem to be a diminishing, humiliating, anxiety-provoking academically inspired irrelevance that helps to devalue and ‘strip’ people of their own reflective skills and identity. (Pattison, Thompson and Green 2003, p. 123)

I do not think that the force of that statement quite reflects my present context, and one might hope that the work that has been done to improve theological reflection teaching in the years since that article was published has had an impact.1 However, I am still met with groans from students when they are asked to do a written or group theological reflection. In some contexts, reflectors can become frustrated with theological reflection because they feel ill-equipped to draw on the resources of the Christian tradition. Cameron, Reader, Slater and Rowland (2012) observe the success of the ‘description’ stage of the reflection among their participants but encountered a reticence when attempting to get the group to turn to the Christian tradition for insight. They suggest three reasons for this reticence: (1) seeing the Bible as ‘for experts’; (2) doubting the Bible’s relevance in their secular contexts; and (3) a hesitancy about sharing the Christian faith with others. However, in my context of training predominantly ministerial students, I find that they (usually) already have an instinct for weaving together their experiences with their beliefs and Scripture because this is how they have been discipled to be Christians in the world. They may do this with varying degrees of exegetical precision or doctrinal orthodoxy, but they are certainly not strangers to the process of desiring to live in a belief-shaped way. Therefore, in my context, theological reflection can often seem as if it is giving students a solution to a problem they do not have. This book attempts to offer a model that coheres with their already familiar processes of theological reflection.

As a tutor, I also regularly encounter colleagues’ frustrations with theological reflection for different reasons. The concerns of my biblical studies colleagues in relation to practical theology include its use of Scripture, the place of exegesis, the practice of hermeneutics, the role of history, and the authority of revelation. My systematic theologian colleagues express frustration with practical theology’s lack of engagement with the role and work of the Holy Spirit, the activity of God, the place of tradition, the understanding of the Church, and the meaning of ‘experience’. Our relatively small faculty means that it is not possible for me as a practical theologian to avoid these questions and concerns by reading and writing only within my sub-discipline. Furthermore, as my students are the same students that sit in their classes, it seems that we are placing the burden upon the students to somehow bring together these differing questions and perspectives. Therefore, this book seeks to reframe theological reflection in a way that will enable students to engage well with the inter-disciplinary nature of theology.

Focusing on the concerns of students and theological educators, as I have done so far, should not be seen as masking the centrality of the Church in the practical theology task. While this book has a particular focus on students of theology, it assumes that these ministerial students are embedded in church communities and are studying theology in order to serve God’s mission. I use the term ‘ministerial’ to refer primarily to God’s ministry in Christ. Therefore, ‘ministerial students’ incorporates both those training for authorized ministry roles and also all those Christians ministering in the world through participating in Christ’s ministry. This book is aimed at life-long learners who are engaging in theological study in order to be equipped for worship, mission and holiness, whatever their intended role. The goal of this book is to serve the Church in enabling Christian ‘ministers’ better to fulfil their vocation to be the body and bride of Christ. I intend this book to facilitate church practitioners, lay and ordained, faithfully and creatively to discern the work and will of God in their contexts, through using a model I have called the ‘scriptural cycle’.

The Need for a New Model

So why yet another book on theological reflection methods in the hope of inspiring more animated and informed engagement? Pattison, Thompson and Green’s research suggests that for students, ‘assessing and evaluating the process, thinking about method and so on is, bluntly, flogging a dead horse’ (2003, p. 129). However, theological reflection methods are not neutral processes and it is essential for students to learn the skills of evaluating methods. The epistemologies and paradigms underlying the methods are deeply theological, making implicit claims about God, creation and humanity. How we think about the relationship between God, God’s Word, and our lives is as important as what we think, and the two shape one another. It is the task of theological educators to inspire interest in the how as well as the what, why and when of theology, in order to enable students critically and theologically to assess their own worldviews and so be formed as Christians. The proposed ‘how’ in this book is a method of theological reflection that starts from Scripture.

Already, such a method might be rejected by practical theologians as impossible because beginning with experience has come to define and characterize the discipline. Ward however, problematizes this:

[Beginning with experience] is asserted as the very basis for the discipline; as such, liberal theology is imposed by force or inserted into the minds of students by stealth. I think students need to be introduced to a range of approaches and methods, and then they should be allowed to make up their own minds. Doctrinal ways of doing practical theology need to be considered alongside those that start from experience, and both should be regarded as possible ways of approaching the discipline. (2017, p. 5)

It is the ‘insertion by stealth’ that this book seeks to challenge by making explicit the theological assumptions that underpin the prevailing approaches to theological reflection beginning with experience and by arguing instead for an alternative way of approaching the discipline, through Scripture.

Furthermore, Cartledge carries out an assessment of practical theology from a charismatic perspective and identifies the following problems within the discipline: ‘Scripture is used in a limited manner; experience is addressed in a general sense or via specific incidents rather than being placed within spirituality; and pneumatology is largely absent’ (2015, p. 58). Therefore, Christians of an evangelical and/or charismatic tradition are likely to find that prevailing practical theology methods do not align with their theological convictions. The context within which I teach would support this assessment and therefore a new model is needed particularly to enable evangelical and charismatic Christians to engage fruitfully with theological reflection.

There are a number of works that describe their practical theology as beginning from a doctrinal and/or charismatic perspective, and this book is aligned to those approaches.2 However, these works are not particularly accessible to undergraduate students trying to learn the discipline. Furthermore, they do not propose a pedagogical model that helps students easily implement their advocated method. Therefore, the texts most frequently populating undergraduate reading lists are those that offer diagrammatic pedagogic models such as the pastoral cycle or critical correlation methods.3 I argue in Chapter 2 that these models are problematic for Christian ministry practitioners, particularly those wishing to reflect on their practice from within their evangelical, charismatic convictions.

To summarize, this book argues that existing methods of theological reflection frequently taught to theology students are not neutral. Due to the fact that they begin from experience, the methods contain theological and epistemological assumptions that particularly conflict with the theological assumptions of charismatic, evangelical Christians and are, I argue, in tension with a desire to form all disciples of Jesus for Christian ministry. This is because the frequently used theological reflection methods do not understand the Bible as Scripture, do not attend explicitly to the agency of the Holy Spirit, and do not adequately account for Christian experience. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a new method of theological reflection that foregrounds the authority of Scripture, the agency of the Holy Spirit, and experience defined as testimonies of encounters with Christ. I argue that theological reflection that starts from Scripture is a better way to ensure that these convictions are foregrounded and nurtured. The purpose of such a ‘starting from Scripture’ method is twofold: first, to give charismatic evangelicals a method and a model that better aligns with their theological convictions; second, to advocate for a method of theological reflection that is more appropriate for the formation of all Christians for ministry than the methods currently employed in theological education. Therefore, this book proposes a method for theological reflect...

Table of contents

• Copyright information
• Acknowledgements
• 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
Summarizing the Argument
• Bibliography