Postcolonial Studies in Practical Theology

Abstract

1I ntroductionAhugedisconnect existsbetween the orthodox, official theologyofthe ruling classes of religious institutions on the one hand,a nd the living faiths of believers on the other.Official church dogma is often not what most Christians live by.Whereas official statements emphasize the 'purity' of the faith, most Christians in the pews and practitionerso fo ther living religious faiths, live what can be described as am ixed, pragmatic version which is ac ombination of orthodoxy and heterodoxy,o fficial teachinga nd local cultural practices,r eligious understandings, and experiential realities.Thisp henomenon is observable in most if not all faith traditions.Christian systematic theologyh as focused on the statements of faith (creeds,c ouncils,a nd doctrines) of officialdom and the writingso fr ecognized authority figures whereas manyp ractical theologians have by and large grappled with the livede xperience and daily-life faith of ordinary believers.This historic divide has been the case down through the years and arguablylies at the heart of the reason for the Councils and Creeds of EarlyC hristianity, whose primary purpose was to clearly define the core, essential, pure, and true faith to which all believers weret ob ed irected and by which heresies could be detected and expunged, corrected, or punished.An example of this in contemporary times takes the form of the conflicts and controversies between purists who insist on the exclusive claims of Christian doctrine and the 'multiple religious belonging' thatc haracterize the liveso fm anyC hristians.It is also evident in postcolonial studies in practical theology.In this chapter Ishall be focusingonthe practical theological disciplines of pastoral theologya nd pastoralc are in tracing the trajectory of postcolonial criticism in the work of practical theology, especiallyemphasizing the work of those whose cultural and historicalh eritage, likem yo wn,i st raceable to the African continent.¹Pathways in postcolonial thought and practice typicallyseek to enhance an engagement with the cultural heritageo ft he formerlycolonized in ways that lift up subjugated knowledge for the purpose of am ore authentic future in which suppressed ways of being and knowing are represented and clearlya rticulateda tt he table of all pastoralt heology. See Lartey( 2018, 79 -97).In this chapter,a si nt hat one, for the purposes of brevity and focus,I stayw ithin the discipline of pastoral theology understood as exploringt he theological underpinnings,implications,and practices of pastoral care and counselingasasub-discipline of practical theology.P ractical theology,a sawhole, Iw ould define as encompassing the four disciplines of Religious Education, Liturgy and Worship, Homiletics,a nd Pastoral Theology.

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