Consensus and Conflict: Practical Theology for Congregations in the Work of Richard R. Osmer

Most students of practical theology recognize Richard R. Osmer as the originator of the “consensus model” of practical theology, one of the most accessible and widely used models of practical theological model in the world. Yet Osmer’s influence extends beyond practical theological method. Over his long career, his writing and teaching spanned Christian education, youth ministry, spirituality, and evangelism as well, giving each of these congregational practices new theological substance. A pastor as well as a scholar at heart, Osmer writes with the American congregation in mind, insisting on making theology central to every Christian practice. Consensus and Conflict traces Osmer’s multi-faceted intellectual career from his days as seminarian through his professoriate at Princeton Theological Seminary and his role in the founding of the International Academy of Practical Theology. These themes unfold against the backdrop of ecclesial change that Osmer barely anticipated as a young pastor in New England and western North Carolina. The contributors to this volume bear witness to Osmer’s indebtedness to social sciences, theologians like Moltmann and Barth, his wide range of interests ranging from confirmation to redemptive agriculture to church planting, and his deep hope that the theological disciplines will play a more vital role in practical theology’s future.

Kenda Creasy Dean is the Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary, and the author of Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church (2010). Blair Bertrand is a lecturer and teacher at Zomba Theological College, Zomba, Malawi and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church of Canada. Amanda H. Drury is Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Indiana Wesleyan University, and is the author of Saying Is Believing: The Necessity of Testimony in Adolescent Spiritual Development (2015). Andrew Root is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Theological Seminary, and the author of Faith Formation in a Secular Age: Responding the Church's Obsession with Youthfulness (2017).





Blair Bertrand is a lecturer and teacher at Zomba Theological College, Zomba, Malawi and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church of Canada.

Amanda H. Drury is Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Indiana Wesleyan University, and is the author of Saying Is Believing: The Necessity of Testimony in Adolescent Spiritual Development (2015).

Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary. He is most recently the author of Exploding Dinosaurs, Dead Dinosaurs, and Zombies: Youth Ministry in the Age of Science (2018), Faith Formation in a Secular Age (2017), and The Grace of Dogs: A Boy a Black Lab and Father's Search for the Canine Soul (2017). He has also authored Christopraxis: A Practical Theology of the Cross (2014) and Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker (2014). Root puts together theology and storytelling to explore how ministry leads us into encounter with divine action. His book The Relational Pastor (2013) as well as a four book series with Zondervan called A Theological Journey Through Youth Ministry (titles include Taking Theology to Youth Ministry, Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry, Unpacking Scripture in Youth Ministry, and Unlocking Mission and Eschatology in Youth Ministry) break new ground in this direction. In 2012 his book The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry (with Kenda Creasy Dean, 2011) was Christianity Today Book of Merit. He has written a number of other books on ministry and theology such as The Children of Divorce: The Loss of Family as the Loss of Being (2010), The Promise of Despair (2010), Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation (2007) and Relationships Unfiltered (2009). Andy has worked in congregations, parachurch ministries, and social service programs. He lives in St. Paul with his wife Kara, two children, Owen and Maisy, and their dog. When not reading, writing, or teaching, Andy spends far too much time watching TV and movies.