Numéro thématique
- MOSER Félix - INTRODUCTION – La théologie pratique et ses méthodes
- AMIOTTE-SUCHET Laurent - APPROCHE ETHNOGRAPHIQUE – L’enquête de terrain en sciences sociales des religions
- MONNOT Christophe - APPROCHE SOCIOLOGIQUE – Sociologie quantitative : quelques repères méthodologiques à l’usage de l’enquête en milieu ecclésial
- PITHON Gérard - Complémentarité entre les approches qualitatives et quantitatives en sciences humaines : le cas de la transmission intergénérationnelle de valeurs
- FASSEUR Fabienne - APPROCHE PSYCHOSOCIOLOGIQUE – Analyse qualitative en psychologie : « Grounded Theory Methods »
- GRELLIER Isabelle - THEOLOGIE ET PLURIDISCIPLINARITE : ILLUSTRATIONS – Lectures des enquêtes sociologiques : les processus d’interprétation du point de vue du théologien pratique
- BAUER Olivier - Observer, analyser, problématiser des pratiques théologiques. Les premières étapes de la praxéologie théologique
- COTTIN Jérôme - Analyser une image, une œuvre d’art, une publicité, une production numérique
- COCHAND Nicolas - Combien ça coûte ? Analyse économique et relecture ecclésiologique d’un acte pastoral
- MOSER Félix - Du bon usage des sciences du langage en théologie pratique
- PARMENTIER Elisabeth - SCIENCES HUMAINES ET SPECIFICITE DE LA THEOLOGIE PRATIQUE – L’interprétation théologique, épreuve de la théologie pratique
- SAVOY Lauriane - LE POSITIONNEMENT DU THEOLOGIEN PRATIQUE DANS LES SCIENCES HUMAINES – La question des études de genre en théologie pratique
- SINGER Christophe - Le statut du théologien pratique : entre engagement et lecture distanciée
The ethnographic process is based on a certain number of methods. The investigator poses as an apprentice of the social codes and steps into the social environment he wishes to understand and study. He acts as a participating observer. Laurent Amiotte-Suchet shows how in religious study this process in situ is particularly successful in understanding what is actually at stake behind the dogmatic rhetoric and the conventional rites. But for this the researcher must become a methodological agnostic and question the very notions of rites and beliefs.
The author gives an account of the skills needed to prepare a quantitative survey in religious and parish circles. He also looks at the survey protocol based on scientific hypotheses and reliability criteria, as well as the methods used in managing the questionnaire, the sampling and the data collection.
Qualitative and quantitative methods in human and social sciences are complemtary according to Gérard Pithon,progress in one enriching the other,all adding to man’s knowledge. The writer illustrates this point with two examples from Reunion Island, a qualitative study of the education of young girls across three generations in two families of different culture, and a quantitative study of thirty-eight triads (grandparents, parents, adolescents) from two filiations and two different religions (Hindu and Catholic).
The Grounded Theory Method (GTM), a constructivist framework, is a qualitative research process and data analysis that enables the development of a theoretical interpretation “grounded” in the data. In this article, the author shows how to develop a model of GTM analysis with its advantages and disadvantages and presents some of the epistemological issues of GTM.
The author demonstrates here how the practical theologian needs to respect certain rules in a quantitative study and take care that the normative does not overshadow the development of the research and the interpretation of the collected data. Correlation is important before transforming the results of the study into concrete decisions. Should not the gap between reality and fancy lead to fertile reflection?
When data on practices is collected, practical theology becomes a theology of practices and needs its own method. This can be provided by theological praxeology of which the author here presents the first four stages as a path to problematising a practice not only having identified its a priori and observing it very closely, but also analysing the significance of the practice and synthesising it in a model. Praxeology also enables the theological and scientific interpretation in order to render the practice truer to the theology that inspired it and more efficient in context.
Consideration of image as a linguistic and study object is relatively recent, especially in theology. Thus the absence of methods and concepts to analyse it. The term Image itself is misleading, covering a multitude of realities invaried disciplines (linguistics, philosophy, aesthetics, psychology, sociology, ethnology). So a few definitions and delimitations, based on semiology and anthropology, are needed. Then a consideration of different methods to analyse different types of image: artistic, catechistic, commercial and digital.
Addressing economics in a method file on practical theology is a treble challenge according to the author. First, the very idea of reconciling such far apart, contradictory even, concepts. Then interdisciplinarity will necessitate a critical analysis of the influence of economic factors in theological rhetoric. Finally how can a spiritual, non-commercial field inspire the economics of a relationship of spiritual, religious exchange? One example is the arithmetic of the price of the pastor’s intervention, an effort in obtaining a model of articulation of the two poles, economics and ecclesiastics.
The author presents semantics and pragmatics in the field of the science of language, the former about the significance of words and their interaction, the latter on what is at stake in a relationship between speaker and listeners.
Practical theology is set in everyday life, as much as sociology, but the religious, Christian aspect enables a critical analysis of the elements observed in the field.
Practical theology makes use of the tools of sociology to analyse contemporary religious practices. Thus gender studies, official since 1990 in French-speaking countries, must be taken into account. The author proposes a definition of gender studies and a promotion of their use in practical theology.
Like any researcher, the theologian opposes two dynamics, his own subjective commitment to a purposely distant concept. The author suggests assuming this paradox as an articulation of a really practical theology, i.e. A critical analysis of believers’faith and the proclamation of the Gospel.