Transforming Christian Thought in the Visual Arts

Sheona Beaumont and Madeleine Theile established the independent association Visual Theology in 2018 to “explore the relationship between the spiritual imagination and visual culture.” A collection of essays, Transforming Christian Thought in the Visual Arts: Theology, Aesthetics, and Practice, emerged from their inaugural conference proceedings, convened at the University of Chichester in October of that year. In this volume, their first publication, two illustrated artworks with commentary from the artists, Lavant and HS (referred to at the end of the review), divide three sections that “re-work” and augment traditional biblical exegesis and interpretation (Part 1), examine state and private interventions in sacred aesthetics (Part 2), and reconfigure public space liturgically (Part 3).

Visual Theology’s purpose is apologetic. The association invites viewers to recover the Christian content of artworks, to identify with them, and to be challenged by them. In an encouraging rather than strident tone, the papers in this volume are sustained—occasionally striking—reflections on the complex theological meanings of selected visual, sonic, and participatory art, its interaction with various publics, and its transformative power.

The two innovative projects that open the book showcase the dedicated work of scholars and practitioners who seek to transpose the text of the Bible into sound and image—John Harvey’s recordings of textual noise and Sheona Beaumont’s photographically re-presented portraits of the books of Scripture in a form that splays and frees the religious imagination (chapters 1 and 2). This sense of opportunity to pursue expository promise is central to Ben Quash’s discussion and elucidation of the aims and principles of Visual Commentary on Scripture (chapter 3), a project launched at the Tate Modern in November 2018, and now widely accessed. Commentators on selected artworks are encouraged to avoid interpretive foreclosure, to resist the residual historical-critical hegemony within the biblical studies academy, and rather adopt an exploratory pneumatological freedom in the present and for the future.

Although the book primarily focuses upon the visual culture of the United Kingdom, Jonathan Koestlé-Cate crosses the Channel to examine two commissions by the French government for stained-glass installations in churches, a responsibility of the state (chapter 5). These examples highlight the incompatible agendas of artists and ecclesiastical authorities, and the muting of the parochial voice. A radically secular artist may be commissioned by the state, resulting in dissonance between installations and liturgical purpose. Unfortunately and not infrequently, the delicate negotiating skills that respect both creative talent and sacred function are lacking—possessed neither by bishops, politicians, nor, in most cases, by the artists themselves, who demand their creative freedom. Greater harmony is evident in a largely pioneering study by John Dickson and Harriet O’Neill (chapter 6). It reveals the educational aspirations of the interior and exterior artworks—their subject matter, ornamentation, and location—of the Royal Holloway Chapel, which is housed in the late 19^th century institution dedicated to the education of women in Egham, Surrey. Here art mediates learning and learning informs looking, engendering a complementary homiletics that recasts the chapel and its environs as sites of instruction.

In two creative works by Beyond, a community arts project established in Brighton and Hove in 2008 (chapter 9), such open engagement was extended to incorporate those outside traditional church communities. The first invited local shop owners to allow, or themselves to undertake, the creation and display of “Easter stations” in their street front windows, which would then be included in public liturgical processions, notably on Good Friday. The second, “Beach Hut Advent Calendar”, was an annual event at Hove Lawns from 2009 until 2018. A different hut was opened each night with an interpretive display, representation, or commentary on the approaching Feast of the Nativity, and individuals or community and church organizations were responsible for their design. “Stations” (in chapter 10) too was the theme of somewhat different works in London by Mark Dean: Stations of the Cross in St Stephen Walbrook and Stations of the Resurrection in St Paul’s Cathedral. The two churches are Wren designs and intentionally provide for maximum auditory and visual exposure. In both, video projections were used, with images reflected upon Henry Moore’s round altar in St Stephen Walbrook. Those present were invited to approach the altar, observe and meditate upon the depictions, and also read selections of appropriate literature. In St Paul’s, the video displays were augmented by a concluding dance work entitled, “Being Here”, which evoked the resurrection appearances of Jesus.

Aesthetic Theology has been enhanced, indeed, advanced, by the fine scholarly contributions in this book—many original—and by the illustrations of, and artists’ commentary on, the inventively crafted works, Lavant and HS, which divide the three sections. Lavant was a participatory event on the first evening of the Visual Theology conference. In the Chapel of the Ascension, delegates assisted in washing a stitched and stained white cloth, over seven meters in length, a product of an earlier work for Holy Week in St James’s, Piccadilly, and redolent of scarred sacrifice and also of purification by baptism. HS radiates this latter initiatory Christian rite in its massive, two-part digital image erected behind the font at the west end of St Michael’s, Camden Town, and which Jonathan Anderson’s essay curates and evaluates theologically (chapter 8).

The artworks created, the insightful exploration of them and others, and the attentively crafted and accomplished essays all commend this book and the work of Visual Theology. Somewhat expectantly, therefore, the imminent publication of the succeeding volume on the religious imagination, Ruskin, and the Pre-Raphaelites is eagerly awaited.

Frank England is an honorary research associate at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Frank England

Date Of Review:

July 26, 2022