On the 25th anniversary of the publication of the book that first introduced it, this book is an up-to-date look at how the pastoral circle--in which social analysis plays a key role--has been implemented around the world. A helpful appendix presents the various steps of the pastoral circle and of social analysis.

The award-winning and widely read first edition of Catholic Social Learning: Educating the Faith That Does Justice, published in 2011, described the critical edge of the tradition of justice pedagogy in Catholic higher education at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century. But living traditions change in response to new challenges and develop their own resources more fully. The most obvious and compelling development in recent years has been the publication in 2015 of Pope Francis' landmark encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home--the occasion for the new chapter-length afterword to this expanded edition of Catholic Social Learning. The urgent imperative to defend creation is a major but not the only reason for a new edition. Two new chapters, on the many forms of shame as a pedagogical issue and on the Book of Job and belief in a just world, add spiritual and theological depth to the original assessment of more than a decade ago. Those three additions comprise the totally new Part IV: The Critical Edge of the Tradition. A new preface sets the argument in the context of current controversies over the place of painful emotions in educational settings.

There is a lively debate about the mission of the local church and an interest in doing new things or doing things differently. However, when church leaders start to work out the implications of change, they immediately come across real issues such as the time, money and buildings needed and how to make decisions that will change things, yet keep most people on board. "Resourcing Mission" offers the missing link between missiological thinking and the practical theological thinking about the task of mobilising local churches. Helen Cameron discusses questions such as the use of available time and money, different models of income, different models of leadership, the use of buildings, changing patterns of risk and regulation and approaches to decision making. "Resourcing Mission" shows how practical theology and mission and ministry need to work together and draw on each other's resources to strengthen the work of the church.

This rich collection of essays by distinguished scholars from across the globe can be read as sketching key steps on the path toward working in solidarity to build a future worthy of the human family through a new social Catholicism. These steps include a contemporary renewal of Christian humanism and of human rights, while learning to live as authentic Christian witnesses in pluralistic societies after the end of Christendom. They will also include working for a just and sustainable economic paradigm, becoming missionary disciples with a continual orientation toward the marginalized, and overcoming the plague of racism by working to build a constitutional democracy for every citizen. This societal renewal will require fostering robust movements of social Catholicism apt for our age, within which Catholics will pursue the Universal Call to Holiness through living their earthly vocations in a spirit of social friendship. They will creatively employ social media to foster apostolates extending beyond borders. In an age of “dark clouds” threatening dystopia, a new social Catholicism will require a reinvigorated pastoral leadership that has come to appreciate the dangers of populism, and the need to instead foster solidarity and incarnate Christian charity through a “better kind of politics.”

In this book, Idara Otu, one of the new theological voices from Africa, rethinks ecclesiology in the changing context of a wounded and broken world. What does the Catholic Church in Africa look like post-Vatican II? This book creatively illuminates the intrinsic connections between ecclesial communion and social mission in the changing face of the church in Africa. The multiple levels of dialogue in African Catholicism, especially in the reception and contextualization of conciliar teachings, is redefining world Christianity. The author explores how dialogue, synodality, inculturation, leadership, human security, social issues, and social transformation are shaping the identity and mission of the church in Africa. This book also engages recent magisterial teachings and diverse theological voices in developing the praxis for the emergence of particular churches in Africa that are defined by the joys and sorrows of God's people. The book calls for a Triple-C church, revitalized through Conversion, Communality, and Conversation, as well as fostering integral and sustainable social transformation in Africa's contested march toward modernity.

Essays in Contextual Theology is a collection of essays that reflect on the doing of contextual theology from several perspectives. After a general introductory essay, subsequent essays reflect on topics such as contextual theology and prophetic dialogue, criteria for orthodoxy, the nature of tradition, the role of culture, the dynamics of conversion, and the way theology is being done in World Christianity. The collection closes with an autobiographical essay tracing the author’s journey to becoming a “global theologian.”

"This is a must read for practical theologians everywhere there is an engaging, even unique, freshness in the manner in which the [authors] choose their topics and develop their insights". Rev. Dr. Gerald A. Arbuckle, S.M., Consultant Anthropologist and Co-director, Refounding and Pastoral Development Unit, Sydney, Australia. "This volume breaks new ground in providing a deeply contextual work of practical theology from Oceania The volume presents a dialogical practical theology that is open to wisdom from all sources and seeks mystical-political transformation a much-needed contribution to the international conversation in practical theology and to the global church". Associate Professor Claire Wolfteich, Co-Director, Center for Practical Theology, Boston University, U.S.A; President of the International Academy of Practical Theology.

The Church in the Modern World: Fifty Years after Gaudium et Spes commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. Featuring scholars from the Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought, this book offers a future-orientated analysis by highlighting contemporary social issues through the lens of Gaudium et Spes. In part I, authors examine the historical, political, and social significance of the document. Part II presents interdisciplinary perspectives on current social issues in light of Gaudium et Spes and contemporary Catholic social thought. The book covers such topics as immigration, women in the Church, environmental ethics, human rights, economic justice, the Church in Africa, and liberation theology.

Communities of Faith is a collection of essays on the multicultural Christian spirit and practices of churches around the world, with particular attention to Africa and the African diaspora. The essays span history, theology, anthropology, ecumenism, and missiology. Readers will be treated to fresh perspectives on African Pentecostal higher education, Pentecostalism and witchcraft in East Africa, Methodist camp meetings in Ghana, Ghanaian diaspora missions in Europe and North America, gender roles in South African Christian communities, HIV/AIDS ministries in Uganda, Japanese funerary rites, enculturation and contextualization principles of mission, and many other aspects of the Christian world mission. With essays from well-known scholars as well as young and emerging men and women in academia, Communities of Faith illuminates current realities of world Christianity and contributes to the scholarship of today's worldwide Christian witness.

Qualitative Research in Theological Education brings together a diverse group of scholars to consider the theological values arising from and contributing to their use of qualitative research in scholarship and teaching. The book offers a careful consideration of the pedagogical and administrative challenges involved in teaching qualitative research and its various sub-disciplines such as ethnography. As a whole, the book argues that the teaching of QR methods is critical to the theological, ethical, spiritual, and/or pastoral formation of ministers and theological scholars With contributions from Jody Clarke, David M. Csinos, Elaine Graham, Brett C. Hoover, Tone Stangeland Kaufman, Bernardine Ketelaars, Boyung Lee, Dawn Llewellyn, David M. Mellott, Nichole Renée Phillips, Apipa Prachyapruit, Anthony G. Reddie, Siroj Sorajjakool, Todd D. Whitmore, and Natalie Wigg-Stevenson.