How Christologies may be shaped by the broader visual cultural environment

Abstract

How Christologies May Be Shaped By The Broader Visual Cultural Environment investigates how the recent explosion of two and three dimensional images of Jesus, ranging from those placing him in the historically accurate setting or period during which he actually walked the earth, to Jesus in a contemporary society dressed and involved in a 21st century activities setting, may impact a congregant's belief structure or shape the formulation of a Christology of a non-believer. Protestant pastors seemingly have neither given attention to nor engaged in theological discussion concerning what impact such radically differing images may have.

Research was conducted using a literature survey along with a survey of commercially available images of Jesus. An over-arching historical survey was provided of how art and theology influenced each other beginning with Old Testament prohibitions against the fabrication of images to the wealth of Jesus images available in 2010. Based on the research it was concluded that the image of Jesus and how he is portrayed does have an impact on how an individual understands the person and work of Jesus.

A paradigm was developed that enables a pastor to analyze popular visual images of Jesus circulating in the United States and to analyze their theological significance so that they can be more intentional about their own use of images of Jesus and more aware of the ways an individual's Christology may be influenced by the broader visual cultural environment. The model also serves as an excellent teaching tool to help a congregant understand the Christological implications of various images of Jesus.