Lay pastoral care: a narrative approach

something that will better form them for future ministry. Part three contains two reflections by practitioners to demonstrate how practical theology can resource evangelicals to participate in the public sphere without negating their own theology, which has traditionally led to withdrawal. Examples of such engagement are the political issues surrounding relationship and sex education in schools, as suggested by Olwyn Mark, or through organising different types of community groups, which Matt Spencer advocates through community choirs. Reflections by current students, in part four, include the leading of Bible study groups (Isaac McNish), ‘theodrama’ and relativism in secular and ecclesial cultures (Samuel Norman), an encounter between a hospice chaplain and a patient (Fiona Moore), and ethnographic research on Pentecostal doctrines (Sheryl Arthur). Through the inclusion of these student voices, this part demonstrates that a new generation of scholars are emerging who will build on the somewhat limited prior engagement between the discipline and their evangelical tradition. In part five, Mark Cartledge provides an overview of the current evangelical practical theology. In doing so, he reiterates the themes that run throughout this book: that evangelicals have generally not engaged with the wider practical theological academy (p.207) and, those who have, generally have not drawn constructively on their tradition (p.209). By doing so, evangelicals are urged to be confident in their distinctives whilst employing practical theological methods, as by doing so they can provide insights for the wider discipline to consider. Due to the length of this book, and by the editors’ own admission in their conclusion, it has limitations in that it lacks engagement with some streams of evangelicalism and has a singular focus on UK scholarship (p.204). Therefore, whilst it brings some clarity as to how evangelicals have engaged, it is perhaps best viewed as a work that will promote further dialogue rather than describing the entirety of the current conversation. However, due to its breadth, this book will be of interest to a wide range of teachers, students, and practitioners. Evangelicals will be particularly interested as it resonates with their wider theological tendencies, especially with regards to their high view of scripture and their reluctance to value human experience as equal to other theological sources. Whilst some non-evangelical practical theologiansmay bewary of these tendencies entering into the discipline, this book will help them gain a deeper understanding, and hopefully more appreciation, of why evangelicals do practical theology in their distinct ways.