By All Means Touch the Work – towards a tactile textured theology

The creative arts are often categorized as cognitively soft in education and related research, with academic publications and research output demonstrating a conviction that intellectual rigor is limited to certain styles of writing and ways of knowing, being, and acting in the world. Yet, for all of that, individuals, and communities, are formed, resourced, and given hope through stories and those who tell them. Moreover, stories, can also marginalize and discourage and, in some cases, be erased leaving people adrift and unsure of their history and place in the world. This power of stories is particularly true of religious and spiritual narratives and, as such, requires that the role of the arts and creativity in theological inquiry be further developed with appropriate, multimodal methodologies. Contextually, multimodal describes inputs and outcomes that include traditional written academic forms and incorporate other expressive forms.

This paper focuses on Christian theological enquiry, affirming the central figure of Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth, comes to us as a teller of stories and parables and one who creatively engages with the people and the world he encounters. The power of the poetic, the importance of imagination, and the shaping practices of desire and story in theological inquiry can be seen in the work of those like Wolterstoff, Shaw, James K. A Smith, Brueggemann and Peterson who advocate for and shape creative theological inquiry. Creative engagement may speak in voices, modes, and media that communicate with people in ways more familiar and appropriate than purely cognitive approaches. Artmaking as a theological process demands researchers know subject matter intimately to change the form of information from one medium to another. To turn theological texts and concepts into poetry or textiles requires synthesis, weaving together broad ideas and specific insights expressing them in new and different ways. It is a complex process, differently demanding than more traditional textual analysis that produces similar written forms. It requires a consideration of audience, similar to the dynamic of a parable told in context. It is neither soft, nor easy.

Doing arts-based theological inquiry is to attempt to redefine and move boundary markers of what theological inquiry and research is. To do this, Clare Louise Radford’s work concerning the importance of creative process as a location of research and a way of reading texts will be drawn upon. In particular, instead of artwork being a primer for theological thinking, making itself becomes “a way of generating theological knowledge”(Radford, 2020, p. 2). A/r/tography as an approach emphasizes the movement between art making, research, and teaching (sharing) work. It highlights the importance of searching as inherent to research, and touch and proximity as vital (Irwin & Springgay, 2008; Springgay et al., 2005). Consequently, the researcher identifies the importance of their research process as integral to the outcome, inviting them to be intertwined, rather than passively recording, meaning making. Movement between the head and hands is an essential connection in this kind of work leading to embodied outcomes, knowledge that is not stored in the head as much as known in the cells.

This paper draws on the researcher’s work that included multimodal approaches to theological inquiry and resulted in a research project comprising a written-academic thesis, poetry collection,  set of recorded spoken word pieces, and textile exhibition that has been exhibited across a number of different locations. This required deeply integrative work that stood in intersections of biblical studies, creative writing, performance, and textile work. It was a physically, emotionally, and intellectually demanding living theological inquiry, that allowed the researcher to holistically explore both the topic and her experiences through multisensory creativity.

Responses to the work have highlighted the significance by which multimodal work can engage a variety of people, drawing together disparate groups to experience the work communally and individually. Whilst the work explored selected biblical women, those who encountered and interacted with the work represented a variety of genders, ages, and spiritualities, as well as creative inclinations. Responses to the work included the following:

“I’m looking for more.  More from you at this level, and more from other women.  I think you’re the first to explore these things at this level, not just the emotional depth but with presence. ([A friend’s comment:] ‘forcing the viewer to sit in the exhibit’).  Another mode would not have had the impact.  It’s incredible.  Your work goes where I don’t think any other woman has gone.  We have argued this theologically and biblically and tried to play that game in the same way it’s always been played, but this is different.  This goes to the heart.  You have so thoughtfully researched, and so powerfully spoken. I hope you start a wave of women exploring in similar ways.  I can’t wait to see what you will do next. Even more than that, you have exposed our outrage, you have expressed the rage that we have suppressed, as a body, and have allowed ourselves to feel.  This work is immense.  Totally love you for it.”

This creative research project has driven additional work asking how creative theological inquiry might lead to renewing existing methods of theological education, introducing new and non-traditional methods of teaching, asking how learning might blend cognitive and creative approaches for students and educators alike. This paper will note the experiences of theological assignments that were open to both creative and traditional academic submissions as places where  complementary understandings and meaning could be developed at a deeper level. In exploring and expressing knowledge in traditional and non-traditional ways, students may curate a deep and embodied understanding of topics and embed learning more effectively.

In summary, this paper is an invitation to a creative engagement that does theological inquiry well, enriches the lives of those doing it, and brings life and depth to the communities being served in the academy, religious communities, and the wider world. It challenges beliefs about knowledge and learning, considers multimodal methodologies, and motivates through concrete example a broader picture of the role of the arts and creativity in theological inquiry.