Originating at the 2011 conference of the International Academy of Practical Theology in Amsterdam, this volume explores the practical theological significance of desire. Although desire is central to many issues in practical theology and related disciplines, it is only rarely discussed under its own name. Three introductory chapters locate desire in concrete practices in the city and discuss the phenomenology, theology, and ethics of desire. Subsequent sections are organized around embodying desire, culturing desire, and transforming desire. The chapters include various kinds of desire, such...

In this landmark volume, internationally recognized scholars address key intellectual and practical conundrums that not only trouble practical theology but also reflect biases and breakdowns in the construction of theological knowledge in academy and religious communities at large. With critical facility and unheralded honesty that includes reflexivity about their own lives in the academy, the authors tackle complex issues that refuse easy solutions-- racism, hierarchy of theory over practice, devaluation of small case studies, risks of interdisciplinarity to scholarly identity, inequities...