What is and what ought to be : the dialectic of experience, theology, and church / Michael G. Lawler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lawler, Michael G.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Catholic Church--Doctrines.

Catholic Church.

Theology, Practical--Methodology.

Theology, Practical.

Christianity and the social sciences.

Physical Description:

xiv, 205 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Continuum, [2005]

Summary:

Michael Lawler sets out a new approach for theology which must, he says, be historical, empirical, and in interdisciplinary collaboration with the social sciences. He explores the relationship between practical theology (which is concerned with the church as it is and as it ought to be) and sociology, using as example two Catholic moral doctrines: artificial contraception and divorce and remarriage without prior annulment. In addition to being a useful primer on the relationship between theology and sociology (both theoretical and empirical), the book provides a wonderfully clear description of the sea-changes that have occurred in Roman Catholic theology worldwide over the past 70 or so years.

Contents:

Theology, sociology, and theologians

Theology and sociology : mutual mediations

Sociology of knowledge and theology

Theology, sociology, and Scripture

The church emerging in the human community

Reception and sensus fidei

Sociology, divorce and remarriage, contraception.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-202) and index.

ISBN:

0826417035

0826417043

OCLC:

57283733