The journal Practical Theology is published on behalf of the Contact Pastoral Trust. Formerly Contact: Practical Theology and Pastoral Care, the journal has been published since 1960 and plays a vital role for those who are involved in pastoral practice and for those who reflect on and teach practical theology within an academic context. The journal’s mission has always been to contribute to the development of pastoral studies and practical theology by publishing creative articles which report good practice, and which offer fresh theoretical and practical insights in this area. It is multidisciplinary, with contributions drawn from counselling, missiology, chaplaincy, social work, psychology, ecclesiology, sociology, ethics, as well as pastoral and practical theology. Since 2018 the journal has included one issue per year solely dedicated to Adult Theological Education. Subscribers also have access to an extensive archive of material from Contact and the Journal of Adult Theological Education.
Variety to cater for all tastes is a hallmark, from whole themed issues which are an important feature, through research reports of about 6000 words, to shorter accounts of reflection on practice, interviews, autoethnography, biographical reviews, ‘soap box’ challenges, book reviews, and even short stories or poems.
The audience for the journal are practitioners in religious institutions and workplaces, students doing masters courses and professional doctoral work in practical theology as well as traditional readers of the journal who have found it a continuing source of enrichment for their day to day practice of faith and ministry.
Practical Theology especially welcomes ‘first-time’ authors and will fully support them in the sometimes tricky world of being published.