578 - A Fundamental Practical Theology. Descriptive and Strategic Proposals

A Fundamental Practical Theology. Descriptive and Strategic Proposals
By Don S. Browning
Minneapolis, Fortress, 1991. 324 pp. $29.95.

Building upon the claim that "practical thinking is at the center of human thinking and that theoretical and technical thinking are abstractions from practical thinking," Don Browning, professor at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, presents a model for theology that is "practical through and through." Fundamental practical theology, as he calls it, goes from practice to theory and back to practice" in four submovements: descriptive theology, historical theology, systematic theology and strategic practical theology. At the heart of this process is Browning's latest and clearest articulation of five dimensions (or levels) of practical reasoning and his most nuanced discussion of their complex interrelationship. Of particular interest is his discussion of the way that the Christian narrative shapes and empowers practical reasoning.

In presenting his model, Browning critically engages a wide range of conversation partners, draws extensively on the case studies of three fascinating congregations, and devotes chapters to the religious education and pastoral care implications of his understanding of fundamental practical theology. This is an engaging and important book.

Ernest P. Hess
Princeton, NJ.