FEATURE I My dissertation explained
Pastoring with pictures Salvationist resumes a monthly series in which SISTAD* students tell us about their degree dissertations. Captain Teresa Conway’s dissertation for her BA (Honours) Pastoral Care with Psychology was called ‘A critical examination of pictorial art as a tool in pastoral practice’
I
T has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words – but can pictorial art help in a pastoral context? That was the question I wanted to explore in my dissertation. I love art. I like to look at it and I love to make it. For me it is the essence of who God is. He is the ultimate artist and we are his apprentices. One of my favourite paintings is The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. It has rich colours with gold leaf embossed into it and it speaks to me of the all-encompassing love that God has for each one of us. Most of us have some kind of art adorning our walls, with pictures of significance in prominent places around our homes. I became curious about what such pictures mean to individuals. Why do people give art places of honour and how could that help in pastoring a congregation? Art has been used for centuries to tell stories within the Christian Church. Icons have been used to depict deep spiritual truths. Andrei Rublev’s icon The Trinity, for example, is famous for its representation of the Godhead. The Salvation Army use the symbols of the cross, the sword and the flame to represent the deeper truths of the Movement. As a Salvation Army officer I am passionate about getting to know people and helping them journey with Jesus. When I’m visiting people it can take a long time to get into a conversation about spiritual things and usually it’s just as I am going to leave that a spiritual conversation starts to develop. So how could a pastorally spiritual conversation start earlier? Psychologists and psychiatrists such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung saw images as gateways that enabled a patient to explore their subconscious mind. Jung used dream analysis in order to help people unpack their deepest troubles. Hermann Rorschach used people’s perception of inkblots to help them explore their subconscious, enabling them to unpick their motivations and troubles. The Bible is full of imagery, and Jesus used imagery to paint pictures in people’s minds that would speak to deep spiritual truths. In my research I chose a few people inside and outside of our congregation to explore if pictorial art could be used as a tool in pastoral ministry. Each person was asked to choose a 18
Salvationist 7 May 2022
Gustav Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ piece of pictorial art they had in their home that they liked or cherished. A set of questions was asked of them during an interview and their answers recorded. The tradition of pastoral visiting within the Army suggests that the corps officer or leader should be prepared to pray and read verses of Scripture or a song from the Salvation Army songbook. This is good practice. However, it leaves the conversation to be guided and steered by the pastoral carer and not by the person being visited. My research discovered that people are able to lead and guide their own conversation when talking about something that is meaningful within their own environment. Every person who was interviewed related their chosen piece of art to a relative who had passed away or a person missing from their life. When talking about their picture it allowed them to have control of the conversation and to be vulnerable about sensitive topics that might not have been discussed in everyday conversations. Sometimes it is difficult to know how to care for a person who is finding it difficult to articulate their spiritual and psychological needs or hurts. The research found that art could accelerate and initiate a more in-depth conversation between the pastoral carer and the person. By using pictorial art from the person’s own home, a way was opened for deeper conversations – they used the focal point of the artwork to unpack hidden truths about themselves and their relationship with God. My conclusion was that art can be used to bring about a valuable organic conversation that otherwise may not have taken place.
CAPTAIN CONWAY IS CORPS OFFICER, STROUD *SISTAD is the territory’s School for In-Service Training and Development, which provides courses for officers and employees, plus open learning courses for everyone; visit salvationarmy.org.uk/ sistad for details
