ABSTRACT
What are the main characteristics of Practical Theology as an academic discipline? This chapter provides a brief overview of the discipline of practical theology: how has it grown from its origin and what strands within the discipline can be distinguished? Furthermore, the authors explain how they view practical theology as an academic discipline: the theological discipline engaged in the hermeneutics of lived religion. And they explain how this view informs their step-by-step method in this book. The chapter addresses some important foundational questions within practical theology and explains how practical theology currently engages a wide international and interdisciplinary range of perspectives. Special attention is paid to the importance of how the person of the practical theologian connects to the practical theological research project.
