CHAPTER 2: A PRACTICAL THEOLOGICAL METHODOLOGY 69 The local ecumenical interaction, the shared life of Christians, plays a central role in theological truth-finding. What is recognized, acknowledged, and practiced as ‘true’ in concrete encounters cannot simply be ‘false’ theologically; even though practice should always critically prove itself.177 These theologians refer to the different loci (here expressed in threefold) and the question of their interconnectedness and the authoritative implications towards one another. Specifically, in their considerations about lived ecumenism (part of spiritual ecumenism rather than consensus ecumenism), the authors show their concern that the relationship between practice and (academic) theology often still lacks reciprocity. In other words: practice, experience, and the insights acquired through them still await proper integration into the academic theological debate in order for theological action and theory (or “theoretical and practical reasoning”178) to act as complementing dimensions of theology. Herbert Haslinger concludes: Practical theology surely has to include the truths generated in Scripture, in history and in the traditional doctrines of the Church. But by perceiving of the realities it draws from an independent source of Christian truth and theological awareness. Just like other theological disciplines refer to Scripture or traditional doctrine, practical theology constitutes its genuine status as theology by referring to the realities of humankind.179 John Swinton, confronted with idealistic theologies and with the everyday experience of a disappointed churchgoer who offers contrasting accounts of what church is, adds: “Both descriptions contain truth, but both descriptions 177 Ökumene des Lebens als Herausforderung der wissenschaftlichen Theologie: Tagungsbericht Der 14. wissenschaftlichen Konsultation der Societas Oecumenica = Ecumenism of Life as a Challenge for Academic Theology: Proceedings of the 14th Academic Consultation, ed. Bernd Jochen Hilberath et al., Beihefte zur ökumenischen Rundschau (Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Otto Lembeck, 2008), 67. Original text in German: “Das ökumenische Miteinander vor Ort, das geteilte Leben von Christinnen und Christen hat zentralen Anteil an der theologische Wahrheitsfindung. Was im praktischen Miteinander als ‚wahr‘ erkannt, anerkannt und praktiziert wird, kann theologisch nicht einfach ‚falsch‘ sein; auch wenn sich die Praxis immer wieder kritisch bewähren muss” (translation: FW). 178 Healy, Church, World, and the Christian Life, 36. 179 Herbert Haslinger, “Vatican II and the Legacy of Rahner and Catholic Distinctives in Catholic Theology,” in Catholic Approaches in Practical Theology: International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, ed. Claire E. Wolfteich and Annemie Dillen (Leuven/Paris/Bristol: Peeters, 2013), 264.
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