The main purposes of IAPT are of an academic nature. Therefore one can come to know IAPT by reading publications, conversation with members, and attending conferences (upon invitation). There is however also an organizational dimension to it. The executive committee (see below) and by-laws provide insight into IAPT as an organization.

Executive Committee

 

Nadine Bowers Du Toit, President

Nadine Bowers Du Toit is Professor in Practical Theology at the Faculty of Theology, University of Stellenbosch (South Africa). The majority of her research and teaching has focused on the intersections between religion, poverty, race, gender and inequality with a special focus on the role of local congregations and Faith Based Organisations (FBO’s) in addressing these pressing concerns within the South African context. Her most recent edited book is entitled: Faith, Race and Inequality Amongst Young Adults in South Africa: contested and contesting discourses for a better future (2022). Nadine is currently one of the co-editors of the newly established Journal of Religion and Development and the Brill Theology in Practice book series. She is the Director of the Unit for Religion and Development Research (URDR) at Stellenbosch University and serves on the board of several non-profit organisations. Nadine has previously served as the secretary (2019-2021) and vice president (2021-2023) of IAPT and as the chairperson of the South African Society for Practical Theology (2017-2021). Within the university she serves on the management committee of the Faculty of Theology. She sees herself as an activist academic always seeking to push for space for more voices to be heard. She is married to Andries, and they have a 12-year-old daughter, Daniela.

 

Birgit Weyel, Vice President

Birgit Weyel holds a chair in Practical Theology at the Protestant Faculty of the University in Tübingen (Germany). Within the faculty she serves as an Academic Dean (since 2021). Her field of research is lived religion: methodology and epistemology of Practical Theology. She is co-founder of the Society of Empirical Studies in Religion (Arbeitskreis Empirische Religionsforschung e.V.), and co-editor of the International Handbook of Practical Theology (2022). Currently, she is working on the usage of (biblical and other) texts in an interdisciplinary research group (“De/Sacralization of Texts”), funded by the German Research Foundation, and on gender and religion (“Un/Doing Gender and Religion”). She is married to a New Testament scholar, engaged in a local service-club, and spends her free time on the golf course.

 

Tom Beaudoin, Secretary

A member of the IAPT since 2007, Tom Beaudoin is full professor of practical theology at Fordham University in New York City. He is the editor of one book and the author of three books and many academic and public articles and reviews. He serves on the Editorial Board of the Theology in Practice book series (Brill), is past president of the Association of Practical Theology (USA), and has chaired the Practical Theology program unit in the American Academy of Religion and in the Catholic Theological Society of America, and the Foucault Consultation in the American Academy of Religion. His current research, funded by the Templeton Religion Trust, focuses on the complexity of visitor experience at the Pantheon in Rome, which is a Catholic basilica and UNESCO World Heritage Site, as a built environment and theological symbol housing the ambiguities and potentials of a formerly culturally privileged Christian space undertaking aesthetically-driven curation toward the ecclesial promotion of diverse ways of life that include but exceed the host (Christian) tradition. Complementing this work are his passions for music, pickleball, and craft beer. For more on his publications and academic projects, please see: https://sites.google.com/site/tmbeaudoin

 

Theo Pleizier, Treasurer

Theo Pleizier teaches Practical Theology at the Protestant Theological University in Groningen, The Netherlands. The focus in his teaching is on pastoral care, homiletics, spirituality, missional congregations, research methodology (MA and PhD level). He has published in empirical homiletics (both sermon reception research and sermon analysis), on preaching for soldiers by military chaplains, sermon listening as religious practice, the refugee crisis in European preaching, and preaching atonement. Recent publications include articles on pastoral care in military chaplaincy, church online in times of COVID19, praying in pastoral practice and pastoral care as spiritual formation. He co-authored the book Spiritual Formation in Local Faith Communities (2022). He is current President of Societas Homiletica. Since 2021 he serves the Finance Committee of IAPT.

 

Mai-Anh Le Tran, Member at Large

Mai-Anh Le Tran is vice president for Academic Affairs, academic dean and associate professor of religious education and practical theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (Evanston, Illinois, USA). Her teaching, research, and service reflect commitments to inter-disciplinary, inter-institutional collaborations: she is past- president of the Religious Education Association; past member of the executive committee of the Association of Practical Theology; past member of the advisory committee for faculty development and current member of the editorial sub-committee Committee on Race and Ethnicity for the Association of Theological Schools; and former public accreditation commissioner for the ACPE. She is current co-editor of the HORIZONS book series of the Religious Education Association, and served on the Steering Committee of the Association of Asian North American Theological Educators. Her recent research, teaching, and writing trace practical theological understandings of race, violence, the Vietnamese immigrant experience, creativity and imagination for transformative religious leadership. She is the author of Reset the Heart: Unlearning Violence, Relearning Hope.

 

Ana Thea Filipović, Member at Large

Ana Thea Filipović is a full professor and head of the Department of Religious Education and Catechetics at the Catholic Faculty of Theology of the University of Zagreb in Zagreb, Croatia. She earned her doctorate degree at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, Italy. Within the Faculty, she has previously served as head of the Institute of Catechetics (2013-2017), the present Institute of Religious Sciences. She is the author of four books, co-editor of one book, co-author of two school textbooks for Religious Education in high schools, and author or co-author of many academic articles, written in Croatian, but also in German and English. She served as president of the Croatian Section of the European Society of Women in Theological Research (2015-2020) and is currently president of the Croatian Section of the European Society for Catholic Theology, and a member of some other academic societies; a member of the IAPT since 2012. In the spring semester of 2017/2018, she was a visiting professor at the Department of Practical Theology at the Faculty of Catholic Theology of the University of Lucerne. Ana teaches, researches, and writes about various aspects of religious education, catechetics and youth ministry, including the relation of Christian faith to culture, diversity, women, social, etc. For more on her publications, please see: HERE. Ana Thea is a member of the Congregation of Sisters of Notre Dame – Zagreb.

 

Dave Csinos, Local Host Committee

Dave Csinos is Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He also serves as founder and president of Faith Forward, an ecumenical organization for innovation in ministry with children, youth, and families. Dave researches and writes widely about faith formation, children’s and youth ministry, homiletics, qualitative research, and culture. He is author or editor of seven books, including A Gospel for All Ages: Teaching and Preaching with the Whole Church (Fortress Press), Little Theologians: Children, Culture, and the Making of Theological Meaning (McGill-Queen’s University Press), and the three-volume Faith Forward series (WoodLake/CopperHouse). His articles have appeared in many books and journals, including Religious Education, International Journal of Homiletics, International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, Practical Matters, and Ecclesial Practices. Dave is a member of multiple advisory councils for organizations dedicated to faith formation and is book review editor for the journal Religious Education. He earned a PhD in practical theology from University of St. Michael’s College (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). Dave is an ordained minister holding accreditation with the Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms.

 

Néstor Medina, Local Host Committee

Néstor Medina is Assistant Professor of Religious Ethics at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto. He engages ethics from contextual, liberationist, intercultural, and post/decolonial perspectives. He explores the ethical implications of religious/theological debates, and how these shape concrete social structures and notions of ethnoracial and cultural identity. He also studies how lived religious experiences shape/transform people’s understandings of ethics on the ground, especially reflecting from Latina/o/x (Canadian and USA), Latin American, and Latina/o Pentecostal perspectives. For the last 10 years, he has been studying the ethical implications of interethnic and intercultural relations particularly in connection with indigenous communities in Canada and Latin America. Among other articles and edited volumes, he is the author of Mestizaje: (Re)Mapping ‘Race,’ Culture, and Faith in Latina/o Catholicism (Orbis, 2009), a booklet On the Doctrine of Discovery (CCC, 2017), and his recent Christianity, Empire and the Spirit (Brill 2018).