Keeping Contact: traditions and trajectories of British and Irish practical theology as evidenced in the history of BIAPT’s journal

This paper reflects research commissioned by the British and Irish Association for Practical Theology (BIAPT) and the Contact Pastoral Trust to investigate the history of the journal that BIAPT began sponsoring in 1999. The research used interviews with former editors to inform analysis of the archive and highlight changing emphases and key transitions. Accompanied by a timeline available on the BIAPT website, the article explores the origins and significant moments in the journal’s development, focusing on the evolving nature and identity of practical theology by looking at traditions and trajectories of the discipline. It argues that theological concern with the human lies at the heart of practical theology.