In recent years, Practical Theology has taken a very significant methodological turn towards the qualitative approaches. At the same time, there has also been a parallel and related development which emphasises the importance of life writing as a theological resource and autoethnographical ways of constructing practical theology are receiving increased scholarly attention.

Practical Theology Beyond the Empirical Turn offers a sustained, critical interrogation of the turn towards social research and methodologies in Practical Theology which has transformed the discipline over the past forty years. It places the discipline’s current research practices within the context of wider theoretical and methodological developments and the climate disaster. The work maintains that current circumstances require a radical reassessment of the goals and processes of practical theological research and that artistic and creative methods must be part of this transformation. Heather Walton embodies her understanding of the vocation of the discipline in reflective and creative modes of expression. This work is essential reading for all those researching, writing or teaching Practical Theology today.