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Alastair Campbell is a Scottish Presbyterian theologian who, after studying in California, taught practical theology at the University of Edinburgh for many years. Now an ethicist with an international reputation, Campbell is Professor of Health Care Ethics at the University of Bristol in England. He was perhaps the most influential British pastoral theologian in the 1980s, editing the definitive Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling (1987). His work has had a decisive, lasting, and seminal influence, particularly in the theory and practice of pastoral care.

In this paper on the nature of practical theology in the modern world, Campbell poses the question," Is practical theology possible?" He then tries to define the basic nature and approach that practical theology should take as a discipline. This is done by critically comparing the approaches of two pastoral theologians, Eduard Thurneysen and Seward Hiltner. Both these approaches have severe limitations. Thurneysen's is dogmatic, ecclesio-centric, and deductive in nature. Hiltner's tends toward pragmatism, induction, and theological conservatism. From recognizing these limitations and considering the changing situation of the world, Campbell then goes on to redefine the nature and scope of contemporary practical theology. It must, amongst other things, be" politically aware and theologically courageous." He suggests that practical theology must study specific social structures and individual institutions, whether ecclesial or secular. It should not be limited, in scope or subject matter, to the ordained ministry