Practical Theology Beyond the Empirical Turn

Heather Walton is Professor of Theology and Creative Practice at the University of Glasgow. A life writer and theologian, her other books include Writing Methods in Theological Reflection, Not Eden: Spiritual Life Writing for This World and Theological Reflection Methods 2nd Edition (with Elaine Graham and Francis Ward).

• Acknowledgements viiPrologue: Beginning at the End of the World ixPart One: The Changed Climate of Practical Theological Research 11 Research, Relationality and Relationships: New Ontologies in Critical Context 32 Knowing, Knowing What We Don’t Know and Being Mixed Up: Empiricism, Reflexivity and Representation 183 Borrowing, Gifting and Growing Together: Relations between Theology and Social Research Practices 37Part Two: Practical Theology as Creative Work 674 The Poetics and Politics of Practical Theology 695 Reimagining Research as (Creative) Responsiveness 956 Theology as Art in Our Troubles 121Part Three: Makings 1477 Making One: A Theopoetics of Practice 1498 Making Two: Heloise and Me, or, On Being a (Practical) Theologian 1689 Making Three: Writings in the Disaster 183Epilogue: Not a Conclusion but a Connection 190Suggested Reading in Creative Research Methods 195Bibliography 197

With delicious wit and gorgeous prose Practical Theology Beyond the Empirical Turn identifies the creative possibilities empirical theological work has long incubated to offer up a whole new range of epistemological and methodological resources for the field.