LAUSR

erate understanding which leads into further intentional action. Their account of collaborative research, exploring the spirituality of people with profound disability, was moving. This courageous engagement using MAPs (Making Action Plans) demonstrated the way in which the person at the centre was transformed as parents/carers and church communities were invited to change. The sixstep process appears to have had great benefits and has proved transferable into a different context: working with those who have dementia. Although the authors have gone a long way to mitigate the surprise of the assertion that all practical theology is essentially action research, I remain to be convinced that theirs is a thoroughgoing engagement with the discipline. Action researchers stress that it is not a methodology so much as an orientation to life. It is a commitment to collaborative learning in action, to wisdom sharing and democratic principles in the service of liberation and transformation. The assertion that practical theology is ‘fundamentally’ (261) action research requires indepth methodological treatment in the first three chapters of this book. Action research is a way of life not a tool in the box of methods. A positive development in this edition is the presentation of the tables in clear columns with boxing. The inclusion of Table 3 (Suzanne Bunnis’ conceptualization of ‘Research paradigms and methodological assumptions’) is a valuable addition to the book (70–71). It makes clear the distinction that the authors are making between methodology and method. Todd’s suggestion that the original work required a concerted treatment of ethics was not addressed in this edition. Handling ethical issues in research is vital and it is concerning that once again it is not given dedicated attention. Whenever material is added to an existing book template, there is the risk that errors will be made. One example is in the index. John Wesley is incorrectly cited for p. 78 when it is p. 74. This is minor but quite frustrating. I had to consult my first copy to find the reference for which I was looking. This book will continue to be influential for some time to come and is well worth the cover price. I hope that it will stimulate and shape practical theologians as it did me.