Practical theology is a field of theological research and teaching that has historically been identified as Protestant in its presuppositions, methods, and purposes. However, not only are there clear antecedents in Catholic tradition for such a theological domain, there were also a number of efforts by influential Catholic theologians in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (for example, Karl Rahner and David Tracy) to ensure space in the theological curriculum for practical theology. It never officially caught on broadly in US Catholicism, but in the last thirty years a critical and growing mass of Catholic theologians has been trained in practical theology programs. In this book, Wolfteich, a leading Catholic practical theologian, intends to update the promise and display the fruits already realized of practical theology for Catholic theology and ministry. Wolfteich has thoughtfully and creatively gathered an impressive roster of eighteen authors who write from diverse perspectives about the significance of privileging Catholic practice in theology (as distinct, say, from theologically privileging concepts and ideas or texts and objects). Only about half of the authors are recognized practical theologians; the rest are clearly grounded in related fields like systematics and ethics. They all write about practice theologically in relation to Catholicism; authors include Kathleen Cahalan and Bryan Froehle (history of theology); Colleen Griffith (bodily practice); David Tracy (spiritual exercises and aesthetics); Terrence Tilley (tradition); Edward Foley (eucharist); M. Shawn Copeland (ritual); Roberto Goizueta (popular religion); Carmen María Cervantes, Allan Figueroa Deck, and Ken Johnson-Mondragón (Latino/a youth); Janet Ruffing (spiritual direction); Julie Hanlon Rubio (family ethics); Bradford Hinze (dialogue); Stephen Bevans (mission); Thomas Groome (pedagogy); Annemie Dillen and Robert Mager (methods and norms). Wolfteich provides a comprehensive introduction and conclusion.

This substantial book repays careful reading, for much can be learned from the convergences and divergences in theologizing about practice present in this cross-section of scholar-practitioners. The impression of the deep significance of practice as a theological concern for academy, church, and society is driven home from start to finish. Whether practical theology is a disciplinary frame that can comprehend what is actually taking place in the book is an open question. Many of the chapters quote little research in practical theology, as the authors rely on their own specializations to talk about practice. Wolfteich and others argue that practical theology is already happening in innumerable places, unrecognized, but the reasons many of these authors never became practical theologians (or why the practical theologians did) are not explored. While the book seems meant to argue for practical theology's more “explicit” integration into theological education in academy and church, the book's more persuasive message—in practice—is that practical theologians have resources and skills to be stewards of a broader theological conversation about practice that no one field controls. Reading the book with others could result in a multidisciplinary theological conversation about the turn to practice and the ethical, pastoral, and intellectual reasons for continuing that turn. As Wolfteich advises (and well exemplifies in her commentary), reading these chapters in conversation with each other is terrifically productive. As she also notes, the relative lack of empirical research in these Catholic approaches is striking. That underdeveloped dimension may be why the deep affiliation and sexual abuse crises in US Catholicism, which are important factors in contemporary everyday Catholic life for many and for the church as a whole, are barely acknowledged as structuring forces on theological work. I hope that the invitation Wolfteich has not only issued, but also performed, with this book will further deepen and ripen, with the courage to go even further into the complex notion of practice, not only as an exception to theory, but—as several authors persuasively show—as the house for theory.