%0 Electronic Article %A Root, Andrew %I Brill %D 2016 %G English %@ 2405-5093 %T Regulating the Empirical in Practical Theology %J Journal of youth and theology %V 15 %N 1 %P 44-64 %U http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/24055093-01501007 %X Through the exploration of youth ministry scholarship this article explores the empirical movement in practical theology. The article argues that while the empirical turn has helped practical theology better attend to the lived and concrete experience of human beings, it has also made the theological more difficult. Therefore, the first part of the article reminds the reader of how the empirical method brings distinct, and at times foreign, epistemologies into contact with the theological task. Reviewing this point, this article draws it deeper by turning to Charles Taylor, showing how the empirical methods obscure transcendence in favor of immanence. The article then constructs an approach to the empirical that might open the field to transcendence and avoid reduction. It argues for ministry itself being the motivation and shape of empirical work in practical theology, showing how ministry mediates divine action, while upholding the importance and particularities of human action.