ABSTRACT
This chapter examines one aspect of theological education—the use of 'the pastoral cycle'—in which theological liberalism's impact is assumed to have been especially influential. It explores a case-study which proves illustrative of so many of the issues as to what theology is, and how it is understood to work. The post-Kant 'turn to the subject' which gave rise to modern theology in the form of post-Schleiermacher theological liberalism is the most prominent. Liberal theology could thus be said to have contributed profoundly to the keeping alive of a sense of theology's practical character. That it has needed correctives is clear: the post-liberal reaction to liberalism has asserted the important role of believing communities in the process of maintaining traditions and fostering the theological reflection process. Liberalism will play its role in accentuating the diversity of human experiences upon which theology must draw, and in relation to which theology must do its work.
