John Swinton (1)

Dementia is more feared than cancer, but this book gives helpful ways to help those who suffer this affliction along with their caregivers. Love them – and love means that “I am glad you exist, I am glad you are here.” Give them the benefit of a doubt – that there is more going on than may appear evident. Visit them, care for them. And, theologically, to help them and their loved ones remember that while they might not remember God, God remembers them. I believe that the issue of show more dementia and Alzheimer's goes to the very basic roots of the Gospel message - that God comes to us and loves us, that the Holy Spirit prays for us when we can't pray for ourselves. There are many comforting Gospel promises and reminders. There are many helpful theological ways to help with this affliction and I am not sure I recommend this as the first one someone reads, but perhaps the 2nd or 3rd. The book is well researched and there are easier books to read. However, it does outline and support arguments thoroughly – presenting ways that our 21st century culture values people and contrasting that with how we should value people. show less

Practical theology and qualitative research are two very different disciplines. Neither are easy to summarize, let alone define.

Swinton and Mowat begin with with practical theology:

"Practical Theology is critical, theological reflection on the practices of the Church as they interact with the practices of the world, with a view to ensuring and enabling faithful participation in God’s redemptive practices in, and for the world" (7).

The church reflects copiously and rigorously on the show more interpretation of scripture. Practical theology offers rigorous theological reflection on the actual practices of the church.

Next up: qualitative research. Swinton and Mowat survey a few definitions before settling on McLeod’s:

"Qualitative research is a process of careful, rigorous enquiry into aspects of the social world. It produces formal statements or conceptual frameworks that provide new ways of understanding the world, and therefore comprises knowledge that is practically useful for those who work with issues around learning and adjustment to the pressures and demands of the social world" (30).

Qualitative research is rooted in rooted in a methodology, typically constructivism, that views reality as constructed by the subject. Qualitative research with a constructivist ontology and epistemology then uses various methods, “specific techniques that are used for data collection and analysis” (69).

There is a key tension between the worlds of practical theology and qualitative research. Many theologians hold a view of ontology and epistemology (i.e. God exists outside our sensory world and makes himself known through revelation) that contradicts the constructivist foundation of qualitative research. Swinton and Mowat acknowledge this tension and attempt to demonstrate, through definitions and case studies of specific theological qualitative research projects, how these tensions can be resolved.

"Our task has been to lay down some foundational understandings of how Practical Theology can utilize qualitative research in a way that retains the integrity of both disciplines and allows theology in general and Practical Theology in particular to remain faithful and confident in its identity and task" (265).

In the end, qualitative research is a tool to help theologians discern and interpret situations rigorously and faithfully. show less