What does empathy and understanding look like across communication divides? Nonspeaking autism as a challenge to practical theology.

In qualitative research, it is of crucial importance that researchers and participants understand
each other. In hermeneutics, empathy is typically presented as the road to that understanding.
In this article we ask what empathy is, and how empathy can contribute to the kind of
understanding needed for the task of practical theology. We also consider what empathy
looks like between people who communicate in very different ways, such as when a nonspeaking autistic person communicates with a speaking non-autistic person. By drawing on insights from philosophy, counselling, and social sciences, and discussing markers of linguistic and non-linguistic empathy, we work towards a theological account of empathy that is practically relevant in research and other situations.