Creative arts-based research methods in practical theology: constructing new theologies of practice

Wren Radford

doi:10.1080/1756073x.2020.1727626

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the emerging trajectory of creative arts-based research methods in practical theology. Creative arts-based approaches work with the embodied, material, imaginative, and sacred, foregrounding questions of representation and interpretation. Whilst seen as novel or emerging, creative methods fulfil key practical theological tasks and reveal the roots of the discipline as already creative and constructive. Drawing on Westfield’s engagement with poetry and poetic writing, Byrne’s studio-based visual arts practice, and Walton’s life writing and autoethnography, the article examines the distinctiveness of creative methods in representing lived experiences and generating new, liberative theologies. The article engages collaborative creative arts-based research to discuss practical and ethical issues in undertaking these methods. The paper concludes by reflecting on the possibilities for the future of practical theologies shaped through creative methods.

Highlights

Drawing on Westfield’s engagement with poetry and poetic writing, Byrne’s studio-based visual arts practice, and Walton’s life writing and autoethnography, the article examines the distinctiveness of creative methods in representing lived experiences and generating new, liberative theologies
In this article I explore the ‘emerging trajectory’ of creative arts-based research methods in practical theology, arguing that these approaches offer generative engagement with the embodied, aesthetic, relational, and sacred
In exploring creative arts-based research in practical theology, I have highlighted where creative methods critically engage with how theological meanings are made and shaped, foregrounding the complexities of interpretation and representation of ourselves, others, and the divine

Summary

Introduction

Drawing on Westfield’s engagement with poetry and poetic writing, Byrne’s studio-based visual arts practice, and Walton’s life writing and autoethnography, the article examines the distinctiveness of creative methods in representing lived experiences and generating new, liberative theologies. In this article I explore the ‘emerging trajectory’ of creative arts-based research methods in practical theology, arguing that these approaches offer generative engagement with the embodied, aesthetic, relational, and sacred.

Results

Conclusion