Practical Theology and Qualitative Research

Practical Theology and Qualitative Research

Second edition

John Swinton and Harriet Mowat

© John Swinton and Harriet Mowat, 2006, 2016

First published in 2006.

Second edition published in 2016 by SCM Press

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface to the Second Edition

Introduction

Part 1: Theoretical Foundations

1. What is Practical Theology?

2. What is Qualitative Research?

3. Practical Theology and Qualitative Research Methods

Part 2: Research Projects

4. Researching Personal Experience: Depression and Spirituality

5. Researching a Local Church: Exploring an ‘Emergent Church’

6. Researching Ministry: What do Chaplains Do?

7. Researching Pastoral Issues: Religious Communities and Suicide

8. Participatory Research: Researching with Marginalized People

9. Action Research: Researching the Spiritual Lives of People with Profound and Complex Intellectual Disabilities

Conclusion: Practical Theology as Action Research

Appendix 1: The Practice of Research: Analysing Data

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Writing a book is a bit like raising children. You spend years of blood, sweat and tears bringing it into existence and trying to make sure it is shaped and formed in ways that are healthy and good, and then you send it out into the world to fend for itself. You are never quite sure how the world is going to react to it. Will it be loved? Will people criticize it? What kind of a future will it have? Will it be able to stand up for itself? Have I nurtured it in a way that will make it a good citizen in the world of theological reflection? Are all of the flaws in it down to my incompetence! Of course, just like your children, books find their own way, make their own friends and encounter their own enemies. But in the end you are always proud of your kids, no matter what others might think. Our book on Practical Theology and qualitative research has made many friends along the way, and although not everyone loves it, it has done well enough to merit a second edition, which is something that we feel both pleased and blessed about.

There are of course many people we should thank and acknowledge in relation to both editions of the book. This book is fundamentally about God and human experience in that order. So we must begin by thanking God for God’s mercies. It is our belief that Practical Theology is a contemplative discipline that has at its heart the desire to enable people to love God more fully and to enjoy God for ever. If this book contributes to such a spiritual dynamic, we will be more than satisfied.

We would also like to thank those people with whom we have engaged and worked alongside as we have learned the skills and engaged in the practices of Practical Theology and qualitative research. It is a great privilege to be given access to the intimate regions of people’s experiences and to be gifted with stories that have the power both to challenge and transform. We also want to thank our friend and colleague Cory Labanow for his contribution to Chapter 5 of this book. His thoughtful research and challenging perspectives have helped us to understand important dimensions of ethnography. In this second edition of our book we are particularly grateful to students, colleagues, friends and strangers who have found this book to be useful, challenging or/and annoying! Your comments, criticisms and feedback have been invaluable, encouraging and constructively challenging. We hope that some of the modifications, innovations and changes we have made in this second edition will enable people to look even more carefully and even more faithfully at God’s world. We are also thankful to those who gifted us the various stories and perspectives that run throughout the book. Trusting researchers to tell your story well is not an easy thing to do, so we very much appreciate your confidence in us. Of course, we are forever grateful to our long-suffering spouses, Donald and Alison, for loving us even in the midst of our psychological and physical absences.

We hope this book is a contribution and a blessing to the field of Practical Theology and that all who read it will be challenged to engage in the fascinating and transformative journey that is Practical Theology. It matters how we look at God’s world. We hope that through this book our looking can be a little more faithful.

Preface to the Second Edition

Since we first wrote Practical Theology and Qualitative Research, which was published in 2006, there has been a significant growth in the number of practical theologians undertaking empirical research, notably among those embarking on professional doctorates in Practical Theology. These degrees are now offered in universities across the United Kingdom and have empirical work central to their endeavours. This, combined with the development of Pete Ward’s Ecclesiology and Ethnography Network (http://www.ecclesiologyandethnography.com/), an organization dedicated to exploring and bringing together theology and qualitative research methods, has made the field both rich and topical.

As our book seems to have proven useful to people as they explore the complex interface between Practical Theology and qualitative research, SCM Press have asked us to write a second, updated edition of our book, which further addresses some of the theological and practical issues that surround the effective and authentic usage of qualitative research methods within practical-theological research. This second edition remains essentially a structured account of research and practice in the field of Practical Theology. We have made a number of modifications from our original text and we have included one new chapter and an appendix focusing on analysis. The book has three sections. Part 1 looks at the relationship between Practical Theology and qualitative research. Part 2 discusses various pieces of research, picking up on the issues raised in Part 1 and showing how the various stages of a piece of research interweave and take on more or less importance depending on the topic. There is one new piece of research included, focused on the process of action research. The Conclusion focuses on developing an understanding of Practical Theology as action research. Here we draw out some important theological and methodological issues that indicate that Practical Theology may be a quite particular kind of action research. Readers will be aware that this is a second edition of our book. While we have updated some of our references, we have not updated them all. However, people should not be distracted by the dates of particular references. It is the method and approach which is the thing to focus on. Don’t let the dates of references fool you into making assumptions about the value of what is being said!

We are very pleased that the book has been sufficiently interesting to warrant a rerun and we hope that this new edition will be of use and interest. Our students, as ever, are the ones who make us think and push us to new and creative ways of doing practical-theological research. We hope this book helps all of you do the same.

Introduction

Practical Theology is an intricate and complex enterprise. It is a rigorous theological discipline which, while retaining a unique approach to theology and theological development, continues to offer a significant contribution to the wider field of theology and the practices of the Church and the world. It is stating the obvious to observe that Practical Theology is theologically diverse. It spans the breadth of the theological spectrum from liberalism to conservatism and its practitioners inhabit a diversity of methodological positions. There is no single standardized way of doing Practical Theology and it is not owned by any particular wing of theology (Miller-McLemore 2012).

Nevertheless, while there is diversity, there remains a good deal of continuity and commonality. Irrespective of the theological and methodological positions, the common theme that holds Practical Theology together as a discipline is its perspective on, and beginning-point in human experience and its desire to reflect theologically on such experience. Practical Theology seeks to explore the complex theological and practical dynamics of particular situations in order to enable the development of a transformative and illuminating understanding of what is going on within these situations. A key question asked by the practical theologian is this: is what appears to be going on within this situation what is actually going on? Practical Theology is therefore critical, analytical and frequently prophetic and revelatory. It approaches particular situations with a hermeneutics of suspicion, fully aware that, when the veil is pulled away, we often discover that what we think we are doing is quite different from what we are actually doing. But such a hermeneutic of suspicion requires a corresponding hermeneutic of generosity. A hermeneutic of generosity means that the practical theologian always seeks to dwell faithfully within the narrative of God’s continuing generosity towards the world. Despite our epistemic failures, the quest for truth and understanding is a possible and worthwhile goal, but it is always a generous gift, never a mere human achievement.

Practical Theology and the social sciences

The relationship between theology and the social sciences is sometimes fraught and difficult (Milbank 1990). This tension has often been particularly acute within Practical Theology due to the fact that the methods and approaches of the social sciences have frequently been an important dynamic within the process of practical-theological enquiry (Browning 1983, 1991). This is the case with regard to the use of qualitative research within Practical Theology. Historically, the primary modes of qualitative method, analysis and data collection have emerged from the social sciences. Social science has offered practical theologians necessary access to the nature of the human mind, human society and culture, the wider dimensions of church life and the implications of politics and social theory for our understanding of the workings of creation. The social sciences have thus been vital and fruitful dialogue partners in the ongoing process of theological reflection.

While a variety of social sciences have been utilized by Practical Theology – psychology, sociology, philosophy, political theory, social theory, anthropology – in this book we will explore the relationship between theology and the social sciences specifically as the conversation relates to the use of qualitative research methods within the process of theological reflection. As will become clear in Chapter 3, while there is a need for care and critical epistemological awareness when we use qualitative research, this way of looking at the world has much potential for facilitating faithful understandings of God’s creation.

The intention of the book

The primary purpose of this book is to address this question: How can we faithfully use qualitative research to provide authentic data for theological reflection? The term ‘faithfully’ is important. As we will see in Chapter 1, Practical Theology is first and foremost a theological discipline. This means that it does not simply seek after knowledge for knowledge’s sake. Rather, the knowledge generated by practical-theological research is intended to increase our knowledge and understanding of God and to enable us to live more loving and faith-filled lives. The knowledge that Practical Theology offers is thus an intricate conjunction of what St Augustine describes as sapientia and scientia; it is a form of wisdom and contemplative knowledge that enables us to come to love God simply for God’s sake.

Sapientia and scientia

In his work on the Trinity and elsewhere (Ayers 2014), St Augustine develops an understanding of wisdom as rooted in the primary vocation of human beings, which is to love God and to live as people who are loved by God. Augustine distinguishes between wisdom (sapientia) and knowledge (scientia) (Charry 1999, p. 133). In fact both are forms of wisdom, but for the moment it will be helpful to look at them separately. Sapiential knowledge is knowledge that directly helps us to learn what it means to love God. Wisdom focuses on the transcendent, unchanging reality of God. Here we find such things as beauty, faith and love. Sapiential wisdom is the kind of wisdom that, for example, ministers need as they visit congregants, or chaplains are required to live out at the bedside. Sapiential knowledge enables us to feel, to emote, to silently pray, to work with the unspoken and to dwell comfortably with mystery and hope. All of these things are pretty difficult to measure, but their resonances can be captured if we engage them with methods that are open and sensitive to the subtle dynamics of such experiences. One of the desires of the authors of this book is that qualitative research can be perceived as a way in which we can access and come to understand the significance of sapientia for the work of theology.

Scientia relates to things that are rational, observable, tangible and potentially changeable. Scientia is the type of knowledge that systems oriented towards the centrality of empirical evidence tend to privilege over other forms of knowledge. In Augustine’s view, the recognition and exploration of such knowledge is important; but it is not an end in itself. Scientia should ultimately relate to the love of Divine things. Scientia requires constantly to be reoriented towards love, assisted by the prior grace of God in Christ (Charry 1999, p 146). For Augustine, it is within Christ that scientia and sapientia are united. We will return later in the book to the ways in which qualitative research and theology are held in critical tension within the person of Christ. For now, we simply need to note that these two ways of encountering the world – sapientia and scientia – are not incompatible. They both have the same goal: to help us to love God more fully and to live as people who are loved by God. Faithful scientific knowledge is a mode of wisdom; a recognizable aspect of how we encounter the world. Such wisdom is tangible, verifiable and observable. Both scientia and sapientia are interpenetrative aspects of divinely given wisdom (Charry 1999, p 33). Such wisdom provides the basic spiritual orientation of Practical Theology as we will lay it out in this book, and opens it up to a fascinating variety of approaches and methods which utilize and emphasize different aspects of Augustinian wisdom. Understood in this way, there need not be tensions between the desire to scientifically explore the world and the obvious reality that the many if not most of the important things that we encounter in our lives – love, friendship, community, death, dying – cannot be ‘looked at’ or measured. Our scientific knowledge and our existential, experiential, spiritual knowledge work together to provide the type of practical wisdom that forms the basis for good Practical Theology.

The structure of the book

The book falls into three parts. Part 1 lays down the methodological foundations for the book. Here we locate the book within the discipline of Practical Theology and begin to show the processes by which Practical Theology and qualitative research can come together in ways that are theologically constructive and contemplatively faithful. Chapter 1 presents the understanding of Practical Theology that underpins the book. It argues that Practical Theology relates to the critical, theological exploration of situations. Situations are complex and complexing entities that are inhabited by hidden values, meanings and power dynamics. The task of the practical theologian is to excavate particular situations and to explore the nature and faithfulness of the practices that occur within them. Such an exploration of situations and practices enables the practical theologian to take up a unique and vital role within the process of theological reflection and development (Graham, Walton and Ward 2005).

In Chapter 2 we offer a perspective on qualitative research as it relates to the central intentions of Practical Theology. Here we explore the central tenets of qualitative research and explore their underlying epistemological bases and how these philosophical presumptions shape and form the various methods that make up the practice of qualitative research.

Chapter 3 examines some of the key tensions between Practical Theology and qualitative research, with a particular focus on the ways in which these two modes of enquiry can be brought together without one collapsing into the other. Drawing specifically on a particular understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity and the theological ideas of conversion and sanctification, this chapter offers an original and thoroughly theological model of integration that will enable practical theologians to work effectively and faithfully with qualitative research methods. These three chapters form the bedrock upon which Part 2 is built.

Part 2 moves from these theoretical and methodological issues to focus on a series of qualitative research projects carried out by the authors and one which was done by our colleague Cory Labanow. Each case study is designed to show a different dimension of the way in which those researching within the discipline of Practical Theology can use qualitative research. Each contains different methods and each is written for a different audience. In this way we offer a wide perspective on Practical Theology and qualitative research as it relates to different modes and intentions. Here we examine such approaches within qualitative research as ethnography, hermeneutics, phenomenology, theological reflection, action research and participatory research. These chapters explore a number of different methods and approaches and provide insights into the process of question development, interviewing, working with focus groups, validation and rigour, the concept of resonance and generalizability and the interpretation of texts. Each study is divided into sections covering: the situation, the method, analysis, and theological reflection. In this way the reader is able to see the various ways in which the methodological positions highlighted in Chapters 1–3 work themselves out within the complexities of exploring human experience.

The Conclusion offers a model of Practical Theology as a ‘theology of action’, arguing that the underpinning approach to qualitative research within the framework of Practical Theology is ‘action research’. In qualitative research settings this is a method of enquiry and practice that encourages controlled and focused change using the knowledge and expertise of those involved in the research setting (Bunniss et al., 2013). In Practical Theology it can be understood to be a framework of enquiry that is driven by the desire to create the circumstances for transformative action that not only seeks after truth and knowledge, but also offers the possibility of radical transformation and challenging new modes of faithfulness.

Taken as a whole, this book offers a unique and important insight into the relationship of Practical Theology and qualitative research and presents a way of approaching Practical Theology that is theologically coherent and practically vital. It is our hope that readers will find this book useful and challenging and that, as they work through its implications, they will be enabled to think more clearly about this important area, and practise more faithfully in terms both of their research and of their personal spiritual journey.

Part 1: Theoretical Foundations

1. What is Practical Theology?

The church does not exist fundamentally to meet needs; in its being, the church, like Christ, exists to glorify the Father. (Kunst 1992, p. 163)

As one reviews the various schools and perspectives on Practical Theology it very quickly becomes clear that it is a rich and diverse discipline (Miller-McLemore 2012). Its range of approaches embraces research that is empirical (Cartledge 2015, van der Ven 1993, 1998), political (Pattison 1994; Ali 1999; Chopp and Parker 1990; Couture and Hunter 1995), ethical (Browning 1983; Miles 1999), psychological (van Deusen Hunsinger 2006; Fowler 1981, 1987, 1996; Armistead 1995), sociological (P. Ward 2011; Gill 1975, 1977), pastoral (Swinton 2012; van Deusen Hunsinger, 2006; Patton 1993; Swinton 2000a), gender-oriented (Ackermann and Bons-Storm, 1998; Miller-McLemore and Gill-Austern 1999), focused on disability (Swinton 2016, 2012) and narrative-based (Wimberley 1994). Likewise it spans the theological denominations (Wolfteich 2004). Practical Theology locates itself within the diversity of human spiritual and mundane experience, making its home in the complex web of relationships and experiences that form the fabric of all that we know. The wide range of approaches, methods and methodological positions apparent within the discipline reflect a variety of attempts to capture this diversity and complexity. While it may not be possible to capture all of the complex dynamics of Practical Theology within a single definition, for current purposes it is necessary to tie it in to some kind of conceptual framework which will enable us to understand and work within the discipline. The understanding of Practical Theology developed in this chapter reflects the model that we have found most helpful in our theological work with qualitative research methods.

We would not claim that what we present here is the only way in which Practical Theology can be conceptualized or carried out. Nonetheless, we believe that the model we present carries enough weight and offers enough flexibility for it to be utilized in a variety of different contexts. It is not the only way in which Practical Theology can be done, but it is the model that will guide this book.

Performing the faith

‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ (John 13.35)

Practical Theology, as it will be defined and explored within this book, is dedicated to enabling the faithful performance of the gospel and to exploring and taking seriously the complex dynamics of the human encounter with God. Stanley Hauerwas describes the idea of ‘faith as performance’ thus:

One of the things that liberal democratic society has encouraged Christians to believe about what they believe is that what it means to be a Christian is primarily belief! … This is a deep misunderstanding about how Christianity works. Of course we believe that God is God and we are not and that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit … but this is not a set of propositions … rather [it is] embedded in a community of practices that make those beliefs themselves work and give us a community by which we are shaped. Religious belief is not just some kind of primitive metaphysics … in fact it is a performance just like you’d perform Lear. What people think Christianity is, is that it’s like the text of Lear, rather than the actual production of Lear. It has to be performed for you to understand what Lear is – a drama. You can read it, but unfortunately Christians so often want to make Christianity a text rather than a performance. (Homiletics Online 2005; italics added)

Practical Theology takes seriously the idea of performing the faith and seeks to explore the nature and in particular the faithfulness of that performance. The idea of faithful performance is key for the model of Practical Theology that we present in this chapter. Despite the fact that there are many ways in which Lear can be interpreted, there remains a fundamental plot, structure, storyline and outcome without which it would be unrecognizable. Lack of adherence to these key aspects of Lear indicates that the performer has ‘lost the plot’. The performer requires the ‘stage whisperer’ to remind them of the script and the plot and to challenge and encourage them to return to the text as originally given. Of course, performers have scope for improvisation and innovation, and sometimes that improvisation brings out new, hidden and ‘forgotten’ aspects of the original text. Nevertheless, performers always perform within boundaries, scripts and recognizable and accepted narratives which to go beyond, would require the creation of another play.

Practical Theology recognizes and respects the diversity of interpretation within the various expositions of the biblical text and the performed gospel and seeks to ensure and encourage the Christian community to remain faithful to the narrative of the original God-given plot of the gospel and to practise faithfully and well as that narrative unfolds. Practical Theology therefore finds itself located within the uneasy but critical tension between the text and the script of revelation given to us in and through Jesus and formulated historically within scripture, doctrine and tradition, and the continuing innovative performance of the gospel as it is embodied and enacted within the life and practices of the Church as they interact with the life and practices of the world.

It is worth noting that this is exactly the position for qualitative enquiry. The enquiry can only ever be partial but must never just rely on the script. Margaret Mead, the pioneering anthropologist, noted that what people say, what people do and what people say about what they do are entirely different things. If there was any doubt about this it has been demonstrated by survey polls around the 2016 European Referendum voting intentions in the UK. We discuss this aspect of qualitative research later, in Chapter 3.

The significance of experience

Practical Theology takes human experience seriously. One of the things that marks Practical Theology out as distinct from the other theological disciplines is its beginning point within human experience. However, we must be careful what we mean by such a suggestion. Taking human experience seriously does not imply that experience is a source of Divine revelation. We are not arguing for Practical Theology as some kind of natural theology. Experience and human reason cannot lead us, for example, to an understanding of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, nor can it tell us much if anything about the doctrine of the Trinity. Rather, in taking experience seriously, Practical Theology acknowledges and seeks to explore the implications of the proposition that faith is a performative and embodied act; that the gospel is not simply something to be believed, but also something to be lived. Bearing witness to the gospel is an embodied task and not simply a matter of the intellect. Human experience is ‘a place’ where the gospel is grounded, embodied, interpreted and lived out. It is an interpretive context which raises new questions, offers fresh challenges and demands thoughtful answers as it interacts with the ethos and the practices of the gospel. Practical Theology assumes that human experience is an important locus for the work of the Spirit.¹ As such, experience holds much relevance for enlightening the continuing spiritual task of interpreting and practising scripture and tradition. By beginning its theological reflection within the human experience of life with God, rather than in abstraction from such experience, Practical Theology takes seriously the actions of God in the present and as such offers a necessary contextual voice to the process of theology and theological development.

A provisional definition

It will be helpful to begin with a provisional definition of Practical Theology which will guide us through this chapter:

Practical Theology is critical, theological reflection on the practices of the Church as they interact with the practices of the world, with a view to ensuring and enabling faithful participation in God’s redemptive practices in, to and for the world.

There are four key points that should be highlighted within this understanding. First, practical-theological enquiry is critical. It assumes that the various practices that are performed by the Christian community are deeply meaningful and require honest critical reflection if they are to be and to remain faithful to the ‘script’ of revelation. In opposition to models that view Practical Theology as applied theology, wherein