ABSTRACT
Celebrating twenty-five years since its foundation, this article traces the origins of the British and Irish Association for Practical Theology (BIAPT) from the emergence of Pastoral Studies in the sixties, through the annual Conference on Pastoral Studies, to the British and Irish Association for Practical Theology in 1994. Attention is also drawn to the importance of the journal Contact, the forerunner of Practical Theology, in 2008, and the emergence of the Professional Doctorate in Practical Theology. It is suggested that the characteristics of BIAPT have been shaped by Lambourne’s (1971) opposition to the formation of a professional association in favour of a broader, inclusive, lay, adventuresome association. This informs the discussion of a number of perennial issues, such as the relation between academic and practitioner, professional and lay, and the nature of the theological enterprise, that have shaped and still confront BIAPT.
