Conference Abstracts

Sunday, June 15th Papers Session 2 10:00 am to 11:30 pm Theme: At Home in Practical Theology 1.Dara Straub - Unspoken “homes” in theological knowledge production? – the role of hidden certainties within the theological knowledge hegemonies Between the dichotomies of “hospitality, relationships, cultural practice, nature” and “brokenness, homelessness, longing, isolation, loneliness, and fear” it becomes apparent that “home” as a term, category and analytical concept is not static but at the very least ambivalent. In the light of praxeological (Johansen & Schmidt, 2022) and postcolonial theories this paper seeks to examine the assumption that any theological argument, writing, discourse is based on explicit or implicit certainties. As these certainties oftentimes remain unspoken or stay hidden, they need to be understood as a decisive factor in the creation of theological knowledge hegemonies. The paper will read such certainties as constructions of “home” by specific theological traditions that, when accepted too easily run the risk of covering up processes of exclusion, othering and stigmatisation. By applying the category of hauntedness (Dickinson, 2024), the paper explores whether and how Eurocentric tendencies in the creation of an unspoken theological home could be unearthed by aiming to bringing the unspoken injustices, that question any kind of certainty to the fore. This will be done along the question of what kind of responsibilities emerge for Western European Theology and its agents, when acknowledging the tension between potentially dangerous constructions and presuppositions of “home” on the one hand and the need to assume some kind of communal, even homely setting that theology is done in and into, on the other. Literature Dickinson, C. (2024). Haunted Words, Haunted Selves: Listening to Otherness Within Western Thought. Lightning Source (Tier 4). Johansen, K. H. & Schmidt, U. (2022). Practice, Practice Theory and Theology: Scandinavian and German Perspectives. Praktische Theologie im Wissenschaftsdiskurs Practical Theology in the Discourse of the Humanities: Bd. 28. De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110743791 2.Edward Foley - The Homiletic Brain: Neuroscience meets Roman Catholic Preaching With the support of the Lilly Foundation, Catholic Theological Union has begun an unusual partnership with the APEX (Attention, Perception and Experience) lab at the University of Chicago and its celebrated director, cognitive psychologist Howard Nusbaum. The project recognizes that there is very little empirical data that explains why a homily or sermon might be “effective.” To that end, we have devised a 4 year empirical study focused on five “moral virtues” that our neuroscience team believes they can test for: empathy, memorability, epistemic humility, hope and trust. Employing interviews, fMRIs, eeg and optical scans the team will interview adult Roman Catholics Spanish and English and monitor their responses to videos and audio recordings of Roman Catholic Homilies in the context of Sunday Mass in both languages. This presentation will report on the project and its preliminary results. 3.Jaco Dreyer - Practical theology and context: reflections on place and space as central notions in practical theological theory and research Practical theology is often portrayed as a form of contextual theology. It studies religion, or more particularly lived and embodied religion, in specific contexts and against the background of religious or theological traditions that are themselves forms of contextual theologies. The use of empirical methods to study lived, embodied religion has therefore become a hallmark of practical theological research. However, despite the emphasis on context and contextuality, it is my thesis that practical theologians have not taken sufficient note of the spatial turn in the humanities in general, and in religious studies in particular. What are the implications of the spatial turn on our understanding and construction of contextual theologies? In this paper, I will reflect on contextuality, and more particularly the notions of place and space, that are often taken for granted in our practical theological undertakings, against the background of the spatial turn in the humanities. This will be done with a particular focus on the work of Kim Knott and her theoretical and constructive work on the location of religion within social, cultural and physical space. The paper will conclude with a brief reflection on the theoretical, empirical and practical implications of the spatial turn for a contextual practical theology. 4.Manuel Stetter - Defamiliarizing Familiarities. Some Reflections on the Epistemology of Practical Theology In many areas of Practical Theology, an empirical self-understanding has emerged. What becomes obvious in the large number of empirical studies in the context of PhD projects, a remarkable differentiation of approaches, especially qualitative ones, or lively methodological debates in research workshops, has hardly been reflected in the established models of Practical Theology. A thorough theoretical discussion of these recent trends in terms of epistemology is still pending. Drawing on my own research and engaging with methodologies currently being discussed in social and cultural sciences, my paper argues for an epistemology that highlights the main promise of qualitative research and conceptualizes Practical Theology as an exploratory process: Building theories, not testing theoretical hypotheses, expanding knowledge, not consolidating it, challenging familiarities, not just finding what has been sought are at the heart of this idea of science. There are two steps that seem important to me in order to outline such an epistemology: (1) The exploratory character of scientific work has to be conceived conceptually. To do so, I draw on three concepts from different fields: the idea of ‘abduction’ (C.S. Peirce; logics), ‘serendipity’ (R.K. Merton; social science) and ‘Divination’ (F.D. Schleiermacher; hermeneutics). (2) An ‘epistemology of defamiliarizing the familiar’ should be shaped in terms of practice. As Science Studies have shown very plausibly in my opinion, scientific epistemologies today can no longer be developed beyond concrete research practice with its everyday contingencies. What it means to challange familiarities will be examined using concrete examples of scientific research. Theme: Youth 1.Eser Kim - Youth Church Group is My Home or am I a Houseguest This paper explores the complex social location of Korean Canadian youth within both their church communities and broader society. For many immigrant youths, the church serves as a home, offering cultural refuge and solidarity in navigating the challenges of immigrant life. However, this "home" often marginalizes youth, pushing them to the periphery. The study examines the unique experiences of Korean Canadian immigrant youth, particularly how displacement and faith formation are influenced by the intersection of Confucian authoritarianism, multiculturalism, ageism, and the clash between Western and Asian Christianity within their church communities. I conclude to argue for a re-conceptualization of the youth and youth ministry’s in-between position as a starting point for creating a new home. Given the significance of youth ministry in churches, numerous studies have been conducted on Korean North American youth ministry in areas such as ethnicity and identity, spirituality, and the second-generation silent exodus. Despite the extensive research on Korean immigrant youths, there remains a notable gap in studies addressing youth marginalization within the church, particularly in the context of the Korean Canadian church. By shedding light on the social position and faith formation of Korean Canadian youth, this paper contributes to academic discourse by elevating the experiences of an existing yet underrepresented demographic. Drawing on Confucian, youth, and sociological theories, alongside a discussion of the patriarchal image of God, the paper reveals how rigid hierarchical structures force youth to be houseguest at their homes. By employing thick description and autoethnographic vignettes, the research highlights the betwixt-and-between position of these youth, arguing for a reconceptualization of youth ministry as a starting point for creating a new, inclusive home. 2.Jeanne Stevenson Moessner - Transplanting the Bicultural Child: Portable Roots Bicultural individuals often articulate the themes of rootlessness, identity formation, cultural dissolution, and “home” and reframe them into theological questions. Bicultural individuals who have spent their formative childhood years living in and interacting with two or more cultures can be found in immigrant, refugee, transnational, missionary, borderland, and hybrid communities. This presentation challenges the traditional understanding of human development. By focusing on identity formation in children and adolescents who have grown up in more than one culture, the parameters of psycho-social stage theorists such as Erik Erikson are challenged and expanded. Three samples of children of missionaries formed the initial research population (81). The children were raised in boarding schools, mission schools, and international schools – settings which have been likened to a hybrid or third culture or interstitial space. (Ruth Hill Useem) The 81 interviewees articulated a phenomenon of “rootlessness” that sent me on an investigative journey spanning three decades. My last sampling of missionary children (now senior adults) articulated what was needed for the end of my quest: how transplanted roots thrive in terra firma. This presentation takes the themes of rootlessness, cultural dissolution, bicultural identity formation, and a sense of “home” and reframes these themes into theological questions. Is the experience of cultural dissolution or dispersion or diaspora or rootlessness perhaps an advanced form of spirituality as seen in the later stages of faith developmental theory? Is it an indicator that “home” cannot be defined with geographic finality? Is an enlarged vision of universal community possible beyond our tribal, national and regional identities? 3.Almeda Wright + Sarah Bixler - Nurturing Secure Attachment at Home to Support Faith Home and belonging among some subcultures of American Christianity are often complicated by ongoing questions and fears of what it means to exist in and to resist the hegemonic ideology of the dominant American culture. Some adults express a fear that their children will grow distant from their faith, values and other constitutive elements of their home communities as they assimilate. Even as sociological research documents a correlation between young people’s faith and their parents’, adults’ fear of losing their children often leads to a posture of rigidity and control at home and church, which young people say pushes them further away. Psychological research identifies a crucial factor that moderates how children connect with their inherited faith and values: attachment, the quality of children’s relational connections with parents and caregivers. Secure attachment entails both security and freedom, protection and flexibility. How can devoted caregivers empower their children to embrace faith and values that resist external cultural assimilation, while at the same time creating a secure “home-base” as a means of helping their children joyfully explore their religious practices and the ever expanding world? Researchers in the interdisciplinary Conectere initiative are offering a grant-funded intervention: attachment-based training for parents and caregivers, with intentional reflection on contextually appropriate practices of sharing faith and values at home. Practical theologians from Conectere will share emerging findings from the qualitative and quantitative data in this critical participatory action research initiative with dozens of parents and caregivers. 4.Bradley Steward - Home as a Locus of Christian Action among Young Urban Québécois Drawing from interviews conducted as part of the research project "Le croire chrétien et la socialité urbaine québécoise" (dir. Patrice Bergeron, Faculté de théologie et de sciences religieuses, Université Laval), this paper examines the experience of a subset of participants for whom the intersection of home and faith has become a locus for intentional Christian action and theological reflection. Connected to or independent from an institutional body, practices of hospitality, presence and hyper-local community involvement by Christians rooted in pluralistic urban environments manifest an everyday religion (Ammerman) which these study participants, Millennials and members of Generation Z, tend to see as a distinct break from more traditional modes of ministry or mission, typically focused on a local church, parish or congregation. What social and religious rationales underlie these forms of Christian action? Can the claim of a break with previous practices be substantiated in relation to the responses of participants from different generational cohorts? Giving context to the local, this paper further proposes a macrosociological reading of these integrated patterns of home, life and faith. Social norms of authenticity and expressive individualism (Taylor), and especially the "lifestylization" of religion and its turn to holistic and integrated forms under a global-market/consumer society (François Gauthier) provide fertile ground to contextualise the practices in question. I conclude with a nod to my own doctoral research, suggesting that the intentional adoption of holistic, integrated lifestyle paradigm for Christian action constitutes an appropriate inculturation within contemporary Western society, while remaining faithful to scripture and tradition. Theme: Sacred Places; Lived Faith 1.Casten Schuerhoff - Reconciliation and universalism as basis of a We and Home? A pastor and a Sami woman are working together to establish a South Sami altar in their church in Norway. This altar is intended to contribute to dialogue, belonging, community and reconciliation, and to the ongoing discussion about the relationship between Sami spirituality and Sami Christianity in the church context. This autumn I will be co-leading a qualitative research project that aims to provide an up-to-date picture of the Norwegian Church’s reconciliation work with the Sami population in the three northernmost dioceses. The altar-project is one of the cases we will be analysing, and the paper will take its starting point from this initiative, but the theoretical discussion will relate to the whole project. This theoretical discussion will be based on the Catalan Marina Garcés, who defines humanist efforts as the elaboration of new meanings of emancipation, aiming at a reciprocal, fragmentary (vertical) universalism, and on the Israeli-German Omri Boehm’s idea of a (horizontal) universalism that is indebted to biblical monotheism, but through its commitment to truth, justice, and life, it binds the deity – and thus humanity as a never-completed We – to these universal authorities. The paper will discuss these approaches in critical dialogue with established decolonial and indigenous knowledge. The aim is to see whether the analysis of the cases can open perspectives on sacred spaces, and renewed religious and ecclesial practices that extend the established theoretical concepts mentioned and make it possible to think of reconciliation and universalism as the basis of an always fragmented We and Home. 2.Jeane Peracullo - The Wandering Virgin of the Vanishing River: Home and Homelessness in Disaster and Recovery Discourse in the Devotion to Virgen de Caysasay The Virgen de Caysasay is considered one of the oldest manifestations of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines. According to popular belief, a fisherman discovered her statue in the Pansipit River in 1603. Many miraculous healing events, often involving water, have been attributed to her. In ancient stories passed down through generations of people living in Taal, Batangas, where the statue of the Virgen resides, it is said that she would wander around and disappear for a long time, only to be found one day perched on top of the Sampaga Tree beside a well. Curiously, despite tales of wanderings and disappearances, the Virgen has never left the town of Taal. Amid significant natural disasters and human-caused ecological damage spanning many centuries, the strong connection of the Virgen de Caysasay to the place of her discovery offers a deep understanding of the concepts of "home" and "homelessness" among Filipino devotees of the Virgen. In 2020, shortly before the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Taal Volcano erupted, causing extensive destruction to the centuries-old Shrine of the Virgen de Caysasay and leading to the drying out of the Pansipit River. Despite this devastation, the eruption uncovered a mural that had been concealed since the 17th century. The mural captured the attention of the National Historical Commission, which is now tasked with the restoration of the shrine to its original condition. The paper explores how the devotion to the Virgen de Caysasay intertwined with the discourse of disaster, recovery, resilience, and home following the 2020 Taal Volcano eruption. It discusses how the places and water spaces associated with the Virgen de Caysasay hold cultural significance and act as repositories of cultural memory. The paper draws from Steven Field and Keith Basso's work "Senses of Place," which posits that place is the most fundamental form of embodied experience, representing a powerful fusion of self, space, and time (Field & Basso, 1996: 10). 3.Stefan Altmeyer + Henrik Simojoki - Empowering Voices in Ecumenical Engagement: An Empirical Exploration of Grassroots Practice as “Lived Theology” in Germany. In an increasingly fragmented world, the cultural and theological concept of “home” invites us to reconsider ways in which faith communities can serve as spaces for reconciliation, collective commitment and critical reflection. This imperative is also pertinent within Christian traditions, where the ecumenical movement has long sought to bridge divides, not only within Christianity but also across religious boundaries. This reflects the original meaning of “ecumenism” as a vision for the integrity of the entire inhabited world. This vision is the driving force behind our project, funded by the German Research Foundation, which aims to amplify the theologically often-overlooked voices of those engaged in grassroots ecumenical activities in Germany, thereby empowering them to build a more inclusive ecclesial home. The research employs a comprehensive multi-method design that integrates both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This paper presents the research design and initial findings of our quantitative study, which explores the personal dynamics and structural conditions of ecumenical engagement. Key questions include: Who participates in ecumenical work, and what are their primary concerns? What motivates their engagement, and what are their experiences and aspirations? By reconstructing these perspectives as “lived theology,” the project bridges the gap between grassroots ecumenical experiences and the broader discourse in ecumenical theology. By situating the theological and cultural concept of “home” within the context of ecumenism, we demonstrate how ecumenical efforts can transcend divisions and foster spaces of unity and belonging and uncover power asymmetries, normative gaps and representational problems in the German field of engaged ecumenism. 4.Sini Hulmi - Sacred places as home of the community The aim of my research is to understand the meaning of the church building for the people who live around it. In this paper, I look at the significance of the sacred place in the formation of the community. How does the history of the church building impact on the one side the individual and on the other side the community? How does the cultural or collective memory manifest itself on the building, in the texts written of it and in the worship and feasts? In what ways does it create an experience of a community? The paper is mainly based on empirical research. Sources are semi-structured interviews and written texts. The interviews and the writing requests were made in Finland. They were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Church buildings prove to be places for remembering. They stand for the communio sanctorum and serve as places of remembering both from the theological point of view and from the human point of view, when they evoke memories of what has been and what is important. They are places which create a link to other people, even to those who have passed away. The identity of an individual and of the local community are combined to the church building. My research material shows that people's memories of the church building are strongly connected to their community. On the one hand, their memories are related to the local community where they live and to their friends and family. On the other hand, they are also related to the ancient history of the area and thus build a community spanning over centuries. The identity of an individual and of the local community are combined to the church building. A religious building seems to be able to act as a source for partly non-religious stories that strengthen the cohesion of a community, either the community of those who live in the area or the community of family or friends, or even the community that goes back to those who lived in the area hundreds of years ago. Theme: Home and Practical Theology 1.Kent Annan - Finding Home in Embodied Humanitarian Theology: Life Writing about God at the Intersection of Displacement, Suffering, and Giving and Receiving Aid When threats from nature or human violence assert that people don’t belong by displacing them from home, humanitarian intervention inherently asserts that, yes, they do belong. In the face of evil, suffering, and loss, people deserve a home and others have a responsibility to help them rebuild or find a new one. This paper proposes that responses in these times of contingency—for example, when refugees flee or a community is razed by a tornado—offer insight for speaking of “home” and God. I also propose the genre of memoir is particularly suited for this practical theology task because of its ability to engage with: lives who face threat; lives who are responding to help; attempts to embody neighborly love and humanitarian principles developed during the past 160 years; and faith in a God who (for Christians) is understood through someone who was a refugee as a child and lived in an occupied land. The paper will draw from academic discussion of life writing, Simone Weil’s writing about rights and obligations in The Need for Roots, Werner Jeanrond’s question “Who am I prepared to hope with?” in Reasons to Hope, humanitarian principles and best practices in sources such as the Sphere Standards, and personal experience as a professional humanitarian practitioner. 2.Olehile A. Buffel - A Practical theological investigation of the inextricable link of Africans, their land, their spirituality, and sense of belonging: A Practical Theological Perspective Africans believe that the land belongs to them, and they belong to the land. This gives them a deep sense of belonging to their ancestral land. They cherish being buried on their ancestral land. The ‘notoriously religious’ Africans believe that when they die, they join their ancestors. They believe that spirituality cannot be separated from their closeness to their ancestral land. The worst that you can do to them is remove them from their ancestral land. When you remove them forcefully as colonialism and the apartheid regime did, you are destroying their sense of being, identity and belonging. This is a devastating and traumatizing act of injustice that Europeans struggle to understand. It was with ease that in the process of dispossession and impoverishment, millions were forcefully removed. It is as if the Europeans were subscribing to the doctrine of terra nullius (empty land) in line with the colonial theories such as the false theory of the so-called ‘Fist Nation” which implied that South Africa was an ‘Empty Land.’ Millions of Africans were forcefully removed from their ancestral land as the drive continued to make South Africa white. The people of Bethany (Free State, South Africa) are a case study of such a community, amongst many who were turned into “pariahs” that were forcefully removed and scattered throughout the country. As the paper investigates the case of Bethany community, it argues from a Practical Theological perspective that Africans, their ancestral land, their spirituality, and sense of belonging are inextricably linked. 3.Rober Mager - Is a Christian-inspired practical theology well-equipped to deal with dwelling and displacement? Is a Christian-inspired practical theology well-equipped to address issues of home and displacement? ‘The present world is doomed’, ‘we are pilgrims on earth’, ‘our true home is in heaven’: such Christian motifs, and others, run counter to the ideas of dwelling and belonging to this world. For many Christian churches, the present life is all about an elsewhere, the hereafter, not about rootedness and home making. Admittedly, various contemporary theological currents are attempting to revise these motives and develop a Christian vision of belonging to the world and involvement in history. But the power of otherworldly motives remains. Is the Christian faith not therefore complicit, in its very foundations, in the problem of uprooting and displacement? Conversely, what fundamental principles can a Christian practical theology rely on to fully value dwelling and home building? The same question can be asked of Jewish and Muslim perspectives, since many of them share with Christianity an inclination towards the “other world”. I will suggest that a Christian practical theology cannot, on its own, overcome its internal tensions and contradictions on such matters. It needs to grapple with the issues on the ground, allow itself to be challenged by the human dramas unfolding there, and pay attention to other religious and spiritual perspectives, particularly indigenous ones, in order to discern which conversion awaits it and what contribution it may possibly make. 4.Mirjam Schambeck + Fahimah Ulfat - "Home" as a social space and religion as a potential code to construct it "Home" has become a loaded term since it has been misused by nationalist circles to design identity based on suggested ethnic, religious, or cultural affiliations. At the same time, "Home" remains a word of longing, representing the knowledge and feeling of where I come from and where I want to belong. In the face of migration driven by war, famine, and the climate crisis, affecting more people than ever before, "Home" has become an even more dazzling and highly charged concept. In the presentation, findings from qualitative empirical research in Germany will be introduced, based on interviews with young refugees of various religious affiliations and Muslim youths, both with and without migration backgrounds. The core of the studies focused on the significance of "Home," the construction of belonging, and the influence of religion on these perceptions. Subsequently, the implications of these results for religious education in schools will be discussed. Without preempting all the findings, it should at least be said that for the respondents, "Home" are more than just a connection to a geographical space; they function as a social place defined by belonging and recognition. Theme: Migration 1.Christopher Magezi -Transience, temporariness and permanence of home: A practical theological reflection to migration The interplay of globalisation and international migration is melting the rigid conception and understanding of what it means to be home, which is increasingly being conceived in terms of one’s location at a specific time within global spaces, as opposed to a fixed, rigid and permanent residence. This understanding indicates the fluidity of the concept of home in modern times, as people consistently move from one geographical location to the other, thus, signifying the temporariness of place and space that can be called home, which, in the traditional sense, refers to a permanent place that humans long for, because it defines their existence. Whether home is one’s place of birth, country or place of temporary residence within the global space, one’s identification and bond with that place is a permanent and enduring feature. Home defines the very essence of humanhood. So, within this conception of home as transient and temporary due to global movements, home and being at home indicate permanent human spaces. Within practical theological reflection, home signifies a transition of here-now, present space and physical locality, while it also denotes one’s futuristic, spiritual and eschaton/eschatological position. Within this understanding, it is imperative to employ a practical theological lense to examine migration and the ensuing dilemma of home to foster an existential constructive view of what it means to be at home in a global world, where migration is a permanent feature of humanity. This paper considers the concept of home within a global world, where migration is a permanent feature. The study also develops a practical theological perspective that can be deployed for meaning and purpose in people’s existential spaces, where they find themselves as migrants. 2.Elvir Ciceklic - "At Home" in the Trinity: Toward a Trinitarian Logic for Migration and Hospitality Many theological proposals for engaging the question of migration have been offered, but a sustained theological reflection on the doctrine of the Trinity and the question of migration is lacking. One such work that takes an explicit trinitarian approach to the world of human migration is Ilsup Ahn’s Theology and Migration. However, this work does not engage trinitarian theology at a deep level but rather uses trinitarian language to provide theological warrant for his socio-political concerns of migration. An engagement of trinitarian theology for migration on the level of trinitarian language offers a shallow proposal for the importance of God’s triune life for the question of migration because it merely mechanizes Christian grammar about God to support one’s political agenda. The objective of this paper is to provide a more robust trinitarian theology for the question of migration by engaging the trinitarian logic of the relations of the trinitarian Persons for theological reflection on migration instead of merely functionalizing trinitarian language. This is accomplished by utilizing David Tracy’s revised critical correlational theological method to correlate contemporary relational trinitarian proposals with Paul Ricoeur’s philosophical relational proposal of selfhood and alterity. The correlation between relational trinitarian theology and Ricoeur’s notion of selfhood-alterity is then couched in the principle of divine hospitality. The trinitarian logic of this paper provides the church’s life a framework for “making room” for the other/immigrant in order to make the other/immigrant feel “at home” in one’s selfhood which is grounded in the life of the triune God. 3.Felix Roleder - Who is less afraid of refugees? Exploring Religious, Cultural, and Economic Predictors of Attitudes Toward Immigration in the Face of Rising Populism in Germany In my presentation, I employ statistical analysis to examine the impact of religious, cultural, and economic factors on attitudes towards immigration in the context of rising populism. To this end, I utilise a recent sample that is representative of the population in Germany (6th Church Membership Survey, n>5000 persons). In accordance with the tenets of integrated threat theory, it is demonstrated that the rejection of immigration is facilitated by cultural (symbolic) and economic (instrumental) conflicts, in addition to anxieties associated with these threat perceptions. Christian religiosity plays a multidimensional and ambivalent role overall, which can be modeled through multi-step statistical analyses. Firstly, religious practices that serve to cope with contingency buffer general anxiety and reduce the stress associated with threat perceptions, thereby facilitating the acceptance of immigration through the provision of religious "consolation". Secondly, liberal Christian religiosity is associated with higher levels of generalized social trust, which in turn makes immigrants appear more trustworthy and less threatening. Thirdly, the provision of religious education in schools serves to somewhat foster acceptance of cultural diversity within society, thereby reducing the cultural conflict that is caused by immigration. Fourthly, Christian religiosity offers partial support for prosocial attitudes towards marginalised groups, which in turn foster acceptance of refugees as a prosocial issue. However, the fifth factor, religious exclusivism, engages in a symbolic conflict that rejects cultural heterogeneity and immigration. Sixth, the ambivalence of religion is also evidenced by the observation that the attendance of religious services is unrelated to the acceptance of cultural diversity, and that prosocial attitudes towards marginalized groups only exhibit slight increases. These neutral or small effects also indicate the ambivalence of Christian religiosity in relation to the acceptance of immigration. These empirical findings speak to the larger questions of the relationship between Christian religion and populism, and they challenge practical theology to reflect on religious practices and concepts in relation to immigration. 4.Joyce Ann Mercer - At Home In a World on Fire: Children, Climate Migration, and Practical Theology An increase in the number and severity of tumultuous weather events globally, including hurricanes, landslides, floods, and destructive wildfires, lends itself to contemporary characterizations of the Earth ravaged by climate change as “a world on fire.” This apocalyptic imagery stands at odds with a different set of terms employed in some theological discussions of the climate crisis in which the imperiled Earth is depicted through the language of home, oikos, and inhabitance. The juxtaposition of these two types of imagery speaks directly into the situation of migration in the Anthropocene era where massive numbers of people seek a place to call home as the world (sometimes literally) burns around them due to climate change. In this paper I focus on the particular situations of children who become “climate refugees” when the conditions of environmental degradation impel their families to leave their homes in search of a new habitation. They by necessity seek to be at home in a world on fire. Children are among those experiencing the most detrimental effects of climate change. Climate migration bears links to child poverty, ill health, interrupted education, and more tenuous relational connections for children. The refusal of governments and communities to welcome children forced by climate change to seek new homes only amplifies such effects. This practical theological exploration of children and climate migration takes as its central theological norm the words of Jesus (Mark 9:37) that to welcome God requires welcoming children—which I argue especially includes those uprooted by ecological upheaval. Theme: Being at home in the everyday: Resisting Theologies and the Everyday Presenters: PANEL 1.Wren Radford 2.Heather Walton 3.Néstor Medina Theme: Ecology 1.Hee-Kyu Heidi Park - My Home is Sacrifice Zone: Practical Theological Eschatology on the Climate Justice Protest Site Revisiting the immersion experience site in Hongcheon, where residents are fighting against the construction of pumped storage hydropower stations in their homeland, I interviewed an activist to explore the public/practical theological eschatology operating at the site. This paper interrogates how climate justice activists cope with the looming ecological collapse. Through an interview with Seong Yul Park, the paper examines how his theology, shaped by activism, embodies a practical and public form of eschatology—one that resists apocalyptic despair and instead trusts in a circular, ecological process of renewal and decomposition. Grounded in lived resistance to local environmental destruction, Park's eschatology rejects traditional linear narratives of end-times, instead framing death and decomposition as vital parts of the ongoing ecological cycle. His activism, seen as an expression of public theology, challenges neoliberal development projects that designate rural areas like Hongcheon as sacrifice zones for urban benefit. By embracing a grassroots, community-centered theology, Park cultivates a resilient hope rooted in collective action and local wisdom, drawing parallels between ecological processes and spiritual renewal. The paper concludes by framing Hongcheon’s climate activism as part of a broader network of resistance—fungal-like in its spread and transformative potential—where the impossible is made possible through sustained, faith-driven action. 2.Mai-Ahn Le Tran - Practical Theology on the Edge of Heaven and Earth: Geocolonial Places for Homo Viator Vietnam’s northwest town of Sapa is a former frontier town south of the border with China and nested in the country’s highest peak, with distinct biomes and picturesque rice terraces engulfed in blankets of fog. Originally mapped and controlled by colonial military administration, Sapa was a paradisical hill-station, then a devastated borderland, and later redeveloped and promoted as “the destination for the new millennium.” Home to many of Vietnam’s ethnic minority groups, Sapa’s natural environment and inhabitants became (re)packaged “Nature” for the cultural consumption of Vietnamese nationals and affluent Westerners. It is a site of competing political and economic visions, where tribal cultures weave in “third intervals” with state and private strategies of market socialism, children are street vendors, and young girls work as tour guides, speak multiple foreign languages, and dream of life elsewhere. With exponential growth in tourist numbers, Sapa beckons visitors with a neon sign which reads, “Chỗ Gặp Đất Trời” (where one encounters heaven and earth). This paper presents reflections on how a geocolonial place like Sapa invites more than cultural tourism and theological voyeurism, but rather an opportunity for sense-filled meaning-making of what is “home” for those who navigate dangerous geological and geopolitical slopes; how “home” evokes and produces memories for diasporic subjects whose bowels have been sick for whence they came, who they are, and what shall become of them; and how Sapa as edge space reminds practical theologians that “home” is personal, socio-political, geo-historical, eco-spiritual, material and ethereal, local yet always trans-border for “beings on the way.” 3.Yara González-Justiniano - Facing Evil: Fostering virtues of communal autonomy and ecological justice The saying, se hace de tripas corazones (you make hearts out of tripes), which, although translated is quite grotesque, means you make what you need with what you have. There is a sense of despair and melancholia in the work of deconstruction of social realities that sometimes leaves communities on the verge of nihilism. This practice of making what is needed with what is available, although limited but not shortsighted, provides a sense of purpose, autonomy, and –dare I say– hope for a future, especially in the context of colonization, displacement, and oppression. In this paper, I look at several communal and ecclesial initiatives in Puerto Rico that answer the call of ecological justice and food sustainability as a practice in rootedness despite the impact of disaster capitalism the island has been subjected to post-Hurricane María. These initiatives began as forms of resistance and relied on the cementing of mutuality with each other and the earth. The labor of ecological justice builds the home people need laced with the dignity nature deserves. From a practical theological perspective, I want to look at the virtues cultivated through these practices of generating what is needed from what is available as it pushes back against ideologies of scarcity into ones of abundance and equity. In the exploration of these collective practices and their theological underpinnings, I believe they both reveal and sustain a sense of collective formation and their political participation that can give language and tangible examples that go beyond the Puerto Rican context. Theme: Spirituality 1.Jinsook Kwon -Leaving Home; (Re)Finding Spiritual Home: Narratives About the Pastoral Experience of Korean Trainee Pastors While individuals often refer to the church as their spiritual home, this experience may differ for those transitioning from a layperson to a trainee pastor. Their spiritual home encompasses both a place of worship and a workplace. Because trainee pastors are people who take a lifelong vow to become pastors, a spiritual home for them is more essential than perhaps anyone else. Yet, for those departing from the church as laypersons and embarking on a spiritual journey to a new congregation, the nature of their spiritual home becomes a crucial consideration. However, many trainee pastors share their difficulties of finding and transitioning into a new spiritual home. If they lack such a spiritual home, what pastoral care should be extended to them? Therefore, this paper aims to build a pastoral care system to help trainee pastors find a spiritual home by raising awareness on this issue. This paper analyzes the narratives of six trainee pastors of the Korean Methodist Church who have left their spiritual home to transition into another. In the book, The Minister as Diagnostic: Personal Problem in Pastoral Perspective, Paul Pruyser says that the ministry of a pastor is to deal with the entire life of a believer. Hence, it is both the mission of the church and the calling of the pastor to be provided with the opportunity to care for people throughout their lifetime. Examining personal development through the lens of crisis counseling reveals that significant life changes, such as marriage, childbirth, graduation, and entering a new school, are pivotal growth experiences. At the same time, these moments also represent crises that require drastic life adjustments. Trainee pastors must navigate such critical transitions, leaving behind their familiar spiritual home for a new one. This process lacks the familiar privileges of a layperson and falls short of the authority and benefits of an ordained clergy. Because they must abandon their identity as ordinary citizens and live with the minority identity of clergy, they are neither citizens nor ordained clergy. Therefore, this period is a time of crisis, change, and spiritual transformation as they embark on the odyssey of leaving their home to find a new home. What are they experiencing during this important developmental crisis? Where is their spiritual home? This paper will analyze the stories of Korean trainee pastors’ stories looking for new spiritual homes through interviews based upon a questionnaire. The questions have been created based on topics used in 1) Nancy J. Ramsay's Pastoral Diagnosis, 2) Judith Jordan, Relational Cultural Therapy, and 3) Christie Cozad Neuger, Counseling Women. Through this process, trainee pastors will be asked to reflect upon their changing experiences before and after becoming a pastor on the following subjects – identity, spiritual home, image of a pastor, influence of a pastor, stress and vulnerability, and support systems. Based upon the responses, suggestions will be made on the methodology of pastoral care for trainee pastors looking for a new spiritual home. 2.Júlio César Adam + Clairton Puntel - Buen vivir as a path to (be) coming home in Brazil: a dialog with Practical Theology, Spirituality and Psychology Brazil is the result of a permanent and violent colonial process of human displacement. The Europeans who arrived here from the 1500s displaced thousands of people from their lands; Africans were displaced from their homes and brought as slaves to these lands, generating the colonial paradigm of the Big House (Casa Grande) and the Slave Quartiers (Senzala), something that is still reproduced today: the occupation of places by those with power (Casa Grande) pushes a large part of the population to the margins of the system (Senzala), in a permanent dichotomy between home, pseudo-home or non-home. This logic of displacement can also be seen in the relationship with nature and in the relationship of belonging to places. Within this framework of human displacement, it is up to Practical Theology, in dialog with related areas, to ask about its role in articulating another logic of occupying places, in which the idea of home is a concrete reality. From this perspective, the ancestral and indigenous philosophy of buen vivir has recently been revived as a decolonial perspective in the sense of promoting another idea of home, an integrative, sustainable and just idea, in which not only people, but nature and the community as a whole constitute what we mean home. More than a utopia, buen vivir understands home as a relationship with oneself, with one's body, thoughts, emotions and beliefs, with the other, with the world and with the Transcendent. The study of this thought has challenged Practical Theology to think about strategies and alternatives for individual and collective quality of life. This paper will present the decolonial thought of buen vivir, in dialogue with Practical Theology, Spirituality and Psychology, through the Beatitude project, as a concrete way of experimenting in faith communities, schools and other institutions paths of (be)coming home in the midst of displacement. 3.Nevin Reda - Christian Practical Theology and Islam: Disciplinary Intersections and Opportunities for Growth When home consists of an ever-changing landscape of different faith communities, it can become a challenge to build understanding across religious, cultural and linguistic boundaries. Christianity and Islam are two of the most populous religious traditions in North America, which are coming increasingly in contact as Christian theological schools open their doors to Muslims faculty and students. Within these settings, practical theology is rising in importance due its concern for the practical dimension of religion and the methodological frameworks that it provides for bridging lived religion and rigorous academic study. How does one bridge the disciplinarian gaps between these two religious traditions and how they conceptualize and classify theological knowledge? How might these traditions learn from one another in their respective journeys of spiritual growth? This paper provides a brief overview of Christian practical theology and the main Islamic theological disciplines: Sharia, kalām and Sufism. It illustrates some of the intersections of the Christian and Islamic disciplines, but also the profound differences in the conceptualization and classification of practical religious knowledge. It argues that, for Muslims, practical theology provides avenues for developing the emerging specialization of Islamic spiritual care and counselling among other things. For Christians, the paper highlights Sufism and Sharia that may provide useful insights into the lived experience of spirituality and drawing closer to God on the one hand, and a long tradition of case-based ethical or moral reasoning on the other. 4.Sabrina Müller - Home is Where the Smartphone Is? Redefining Spirituality in the Digital Age In the context of the global smartphone era, the concept of 'home' has been fundamentally transformed. Traditionally viewed as a fixed physical location, 'home' now extends to wherever one's smartphone is.(Miller et al. 2021) This shift reflects how deeply embedded these devices have become in daily life, serving as a constant companion that provides access to relationships, communication, information, and spiritual practices. (Singh and Munderia 2022, 113) The smartphone as 'home' underscores the fluidity of our interactions with the digital and physical worlds, reshaping our understanding of place and belonging. The pervasive presence of smartphones significantly impacts self-conception, interpersonal dynamics, and individual identity. This technological integration extends into the realm of spirituality and religion, as evidenced by the growing popularity of spiritual and religious apps. Recent data highlights the surge in the use of spiritual and religious apps, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Apps like Calm, Headspace, and Insight Timer have seen massive increases in downloads, reflecting a broader trend towards digital spirituality. (Cf. ‘Statistics For Top Meditation Apps You Should Know Before Using It’ 2023) These apps provide a range of religious and spiritual practices that users can engage with at their convenience, offering a customizable and controllable approach to spirituality. Looking at recent technological development one could argue that the even the place of spiritual ‘home’ has been redefined, with smartphones emerging as pivotal in this transformation. In this paper, I will explore the concept of the smartphone as a spiritual home through my own research and various examples. By examining how smartphones facilitate and reshape spiritual practices, I aim to illustrate how these devices are more than mere tools—they become integral to the way individuals experience and express their (trans-religious) spirituality. This investigation will provide a deeper understanding of how digital environments contribute to the evolving landscape of spiritual practice, identity, and the notion of home in the contemporary world.