Recovering practical theology: Two disciplines on the way to eachother at the University of Vienna

Abstract

The consolidation of the separate disciplines of pastoral theology and religious pedagogy into a single Institute of Practical Theology at the Roman Catholic theological faculty of the University of Vienna in 2007 provides the occasion for this report. The author provides an overview of the situation of practical theology in Austria, with special focus on academic institutions and their history. Extensive discussion is given to what this has meant at an everyday, operational level at the author's own institution, including the emerging insights about, tensions about, commonalities within, and prospects for practical theological research and teaching there. © Walter de Gruyter 2008.