Converting the Imagination through Visual Images in Ecological Religious Education

Abstract

Global ecological crisis calls for humanity's “ecological conversion,” as well as deconversion from consumerism as a faith system. Conversion involves the imagination, which suggests an important role for visual images in religious education for ecological conversion. Yet educational proposals for deconversion from consumer culture have neglected the potential of the visual image. This essay focuses on two such proposals, from religious educator and practical theologian Katherine Turpin and Christian philosopher James K.A. Smith, both of whom focus on practice over image. Acknowledging the liabilities of image, the essay describes pedagogical exercises that employ images to support ecological conversion.

Keywords:

• Ecological conversion
• imagination
• visual image
• consumerism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The connection between perceived sensory images and the faculty of imagination is a complex philosophical and psychological issue, and imagination involves much more than a library of images. A full discussion of the relationship between image and imagination is beyond the scope of this essay. Thomas Nigel offers one helpful discussion (Nigel 2014).

2 Christian iconoclasm had roots in Judaism’s prohibition on graven images of God, as well as from the ancient Greek assumption of the superiority of intellect over sense and “the closely related notion that the deity cannot be represented in material form” (Freedberg 1989, 61).

3 The author of Colossians calls Jesus Christ the “icon” or “image” of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). For defenders of icons, Jesus as God’s image is the precedent and defense of other images. For iconoclasts, Jesus is the only allowable image of God. Roland Betancourt offers a fascinating study of the history of theories of vision in the Byzantine world that helped give rise to its visual religious culture (Betancourt 2018).

4 In these religious contexts and elsewhere, images do not operate in isolation, but work “in tandem with other artifacts, documents, and forms of representation, such as texts, buildings, clothing, food, and all manner of ritual” (Morgan 2005, 52).

5 Morgan says that images have at least seven overlapping religious functions: They (1) order space and time, (2) depict ideal community, (3) offer a way to communicate with the divine or transcendent, (4) embody forms of communion with the divine, (5) collaborate with other forms of representation, (6) influence thought and behavior by persuasion or magic, and (7) displace rival images and ideologies (Morgan 2005, 55).

6 This emphasis accords with the Byzantine iconoclastic claim that “the only true icon of Christ was the Eucharist” (Freedberg 1989, 393).

7 Some theologians and religious educators also argue for Participatory Action Research (PAR)—a larger educational “parent” to Participatory Visual Methodologies—as appropriate to the work of practical and intercultural theologians (Cruz 2019; van den Toren and Bom 2018; Cameron et al. 2010; Graham 2013). Elizabeth Conde-Frazier advocates PAR in religious education for social justice (Conde-Frazier 2006).

8 Obviously, the producers of these images intend them to authenticate an outward reality; this is a particular genre of image, and not all images would equally accomplish this task. Thus selecting images is an important pedagogical task, as is leading discussion of how images like these seek to shape our response.

9 An area of growth for me, as a Protestant, is the use of sacred images and icons. Obviously, the Orthodox and Catholic churches, as well as other religious traditions, have offered “alternative visions” in sacred art for centuries. Yet historically most of these sacred images have been anthropocentric. Fortunately, artists are now creating sacred images that are intentionally ecological in scope.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christiane Lang Hearlson

Christiane Lang Hearlson is Assistant Professor of Religious and Theological Education at Villanova University and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Her work focuses on transformative pedagogies; ecology, Christian theology, and consumer culture; the role of attention in spirituality, and the spirituality of children and youth. E-mail: [email protected]