RECOGNIZING JESUS: VISUALITY AND THE STUDY OF RELIGION

An autobiographical reflection on the development of an approach to studying massproduced Protestant images, this chapter explores how the author came to find inadequate the methods of art history in which he had been trained. In order to understand the social life of images, their circulation, and popular reception, as a fundamental aspect of the visual construction of religious worlds, the author was compelled to combine methods of study. The chapter argues that visuality consists not only of the way things look but is also shaped by the practices of belief that construct likeness. Visual methods need to be configured accordingly.

Duke Scholars

Author David Morgan Religious Studies