Reading List - Theological Integration and Praxis

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Catechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994. #232-267.

“Divine and Human Methodology.” National Directory for Catechesis. USCCB. 2005. 89-107.

Downey, Michael. “Theology as a Way of Life.” New Theology Review. February. 2002. 55-63.

Imbelli, Robert P. “The Love that Moves the Sun and the Other Stars. in Rekindling the Christic Imagination: Theological Meditations for the New Evangelization. Liturgical Press. 2014, 21-43.

Kinast, Robert. Making Faith-Sense: Theological Reflection in Everyday Life, Liturgical Press. 1999.

Theological reflection will take time and should also be communal.

Looking at an experience with another person may allow you to come aware of other aspects that you may not be seeing on your own.

Take stock of the different "senses" that affect you: cultural, work, personal, social senses. Looking at these senses with others will help you see the "whole picture" better.

We must analyze the whole experience, rather than just focusing on a single event or even an aspect of an event (before, during, and after).

Krisak, Anthony. “Theological Reflection: Unfolding the Mystery.” in Handbook of Spirituality for Ministers, Vol. 1. Ed. Robert J. Wicks. Paulist Press. 1995. 308-329.

Theological reflection puts us in contact with the way God is involved in our everyday experiences

Theological Reflection involves "'the telling of a story' through which the resources of experience, text and community come to bear upon one another" (317).

Tools of Theological Reflection (310)

Experience

Self-awareness

Text

Community

The Process of Theological Reflection (317)

Identifying the experience and the elements which led up to it

Articulation of the experience and its meaning

Dialogue in which elements of the experience are correlated with or challenged through interaction with text and community

A new or renewed discernment about the meaning of the experience

Recognition and acceptance of how this experience is decisive for a person's life.

Mongoven, O.P. Anne Marie. The Prophetic Spirit of Catechesis: How We Share the Fire in Our Hearts. Paulist Press. 2000. 13-35; and 87-145.

The call of being a catechist is ongoing: we should be continuously open to noticing the work of the Holy Spirit acting through symbols as we yearn to share the fire that is in our hearts.

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The National Directory for Catechesis (USCCB, 2005) states the following in Article #29: “Effective catechesis should feature no opposition or artificial separation between content and method. Similar to the dynamic present in the pedagogy of God, catechetical methodology serves to transmit both the content of the entire Christian message and the source of that message, the Triune God. Catechetical methodology must be able to communicate that message, together with its sources and language, to particular ecclesial communities while always bearing in mind the particular circumstances of those to whom the message is addressed. Content and method interact and harmonize in the communication of the faith.”

For this topic, students explore the integration of theological studies and ministerial praxis.

In this context, students demonstrate appropriation of theological foundations necessary for effective catechetical ministry, and they utilize appropriate pedagogies for adult faith formation.

In particular, students explore how content and method come together in the articulation of the mystery of the Triune God.

Finally, students demonstrate how they might utilize the art of theological reflection toward a continual unfolding of the mysteries of Christian faith in catechetical ministry.

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The Question

Imbelli article the capstone for this question

Relationship between content and method: manifested in theological reflection,

The content of Christian message (theology; Mystery of the Trinity) is communicated by the Trinity and the method the Trinity communicates itself to us: perichoresis, Revelation, self-giving love.

Imbelli

(page 41) We are made in the image and likeness of God means we are made in the image of the Trinity. Puts us in relationship with God, but also in relationship with other persons.

The more we open ourselves up to (contemplate) the Mystery of the Trinity, the more we discover who we are.

We bear God's image from the moment of creation, but we grow more into the image of the likeness of God when we transform ourselves into his likeness. This process is gradual (cf. GDC and NDC on pedagogy of God)

(page 43) Learning the language of "we." Recognizes desire for community.

Downey

Theology is not performed in an ivory tower. The task of the theologian should be deeply connected to the life of the Church (the image of Christ that is most relevant - ), and also to the concerns of the world.

Be emptied: participate in the kenotic activity of Christ, who empties himself out in the Spirit, for the sake of his mission from the Father. This allows us to explore the Mystery more fully.

NDC

Divine Pedagogy is self-disclosure of God's self through the self-revelation of the Trinity.

Happens in and through symbols, gradually, fully revealed through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit to the Father, rooted in interpersonal relations and dialogue, values community experience of faith.

Content: Revelation; Pedagogy: the way God reveals himself.

--> What's the difference between divine pedagogy and Revelation?

Krisak

Identify the experience

Articulate the experience

Dialogue/question (contemplation)

Discover new meaning (conversion and transformation)

Kinast

Narration (without interpretation)

Analysis ("why?")

Meaning (connection to values/lessons of our tradition) --> Scripture, history, Tradition, doctrine, morality, worship

Enactment (turning reflection into action)

-- Insights --

Moving from body to spirit, and then back to body

Mutual correlation between our ministerial lives and our faith lives

Connects intellectual activity through pastoral praxis to the experience of God

The process is more important than the "end goal": we don't need to figure out a "solution"

Theological reflection gives us a vehicle through which to consider the concerns of our time, now, and lift them up to the light of the face of God

Theological reflection is applicable to the consideration of life in the light of faith for any age or developmental level (the operative/deepest question of a 3 year old is, "am I safe?"). Anybody can use this technique, just as anyone can have access to Scripture; no one is left out from the concern of God: divine pedagogy.

Theological reflection manifests the inductive and deductive methods of catechesis: we collect the experiences of Faith and hold them to the reality of God (inductive), and we consider the reality of God found in Scripture and are thus transformed to live our life in a radically new way - deeper communion with the Trinity.

Theological reflection is a transfiguration type of experience: We collect the stuff of our lives and analyze it as we go up the mountain to meet the Trinity in Scripture and Tradition, and then we come down from the mountain transformed, ready to experience conversion and live our life in a new way.

--> What is a possible question?

Offer methods of appropriation that communicate the self-revelation of the Trinity in the manner that the Trinity reveals itself

Demonstrate how the process of theological reflection reflects the divine pedagogy of God and displays an authentic relationship between content and method.