From portraits of absence to analogies of resurrection

: a theological engagement with photographic phenomenology

Abstract

While Christian theologians have considered in some depth more established forms of artistic expression (e.g., painting, sculpture, theatre), with only a few notable exceptions very little theological attention has been paid to photography. This is despite the medium’s rapid growth and its social and political importance. In this thesis I begin to address that gap by exploring photographic phenomenology from a theological perspective. I demonstrate that photography can be put to a diverse range of religious uses, and touch on ways in which photographs can be of benefit in contexts of preaching and teaching, pastoral care, and mission. The bulk of this thesis explores possible religious experiences and uses of photographs (uses that might engender religious experience, or mediate a sense of divine presence), but this exploration acknowledges that many of the experiences discussed may not be unique to those of a religious perspective. I propose, therefore, a spectrum of uses and experiences including the seemingly straightforward ‘illustrative or instructional’, the ‘anamnetic’, the ‘affective’ (or ‘sentimental’), and the ‘sacramental’.

This exploration arises from a critical engagement with the dominant photographic phenomenology of proof as presented by Roland Barthes from a theological perspective. From that engagement I pursue one of the experiences Barthes describes but later abandons, that ‘Photography has something to do with resurrection’. I argue that Barthes’ choice to abandon this experience was a mistake. My argument is developed cumulatively across three chapters in each of which I use a key challenge against photography to demonstrate the utility of a theologically engaged photographic phenomenology that extends Barthes’ suggested resurrection-like experience. The challenges discussed are first, that the photograph is always memento mori, secondly, that photographs of violence and suffering always demonstrate the complicity of the photographer and perpetuate the victim’s suffering, and finally, that photographs are sentimental objects. In a chapter that draws together the conclusions of the previous three, I propose a theologically informed methodology for reading photographs that is then applied in the final chapter to three case studies. I conclude the thesis with a reflection upon those case studies, identifying the particular theological functions they serve.

Date of Award	30 Jul 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	David William Brown (Supervisor) & Natasha Frances Hester O'Hear (Supervisor)