From Sight to Insight: God, Art and the Spiritual Well-being of the Young Person
Sewell, Jacky
This item is not available in full-text via OUR Archive.
If you would like to read this item, please apply for an inter-library loan from the University of Otago via your local library.
If you are the author of this item, please contact us if you wish to discuss making the full text publicly available.
Cite this item:
Sewell, J. (2014). From Sight to Insight: God, Art and the Spiritual Well-being of the Young Person (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy). University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/4993
Permanent link to OUR Archive version:
http://hdl.handle.net/10523/4993
Abstract:
This thesis is an investigation of the way engagement with visual art promotes spiritual well-being, with a particular focus on teenagers. The power of art to move the human spirit and transform human lives is well-known both in Christian practice and in youth work circles. This research sets out to examine the dynamics at play and the factors at work in creating a rich, resilient spirituality when art is introduced as a conversation partner. The field research took place with two groups of fourteen-year-olds in two secondary schools. Participants were male and female and represented a diversity of South Pacific cultures: Maori, European, Tongan and Samoan. In order to construct a working theory, the literature of theological aesthetics and adolescent spirituality were reviewed. From within theological aesthetics, the schema of Frank Burch Brown, accounting for the way in which art affects the whole person - heart, mind, body and soul - is examined and adopted as part of a theoretical framework. From within the literature of adolescent spirituality, the model of John Fisher which proposes four spiritual domains – personal, communal, environmental and global/transcendental – is examined and adopted likewise. These two schemas are reworked into a theory of integrated spirituality as a basis for spiritual well-being. The field research took place over a five-month period, utilizing focus groups, interviews and journaling.The findings of this thesis encompass aesthetic response, the role of imagination and creation of story, the fusion of Dimensions of Spirituality, existential questioning, and the processes of spiritual narration. Of particular note are the findings concerning embodied response and enactment, the phenomenon of mirroring, and reflections on gender and culture. In addition, the facilitated pedagogy of the research is integral to the findings and has implications for the role of art in other contexts such as spiritual direction.
Date:
2014
Advisor:
Rae, Murray; Fraser, Deborah
Degree Name:
Doctor of Philosophy
Degree Discipline:
Theology and Religion
Publisher:
University of Otago
Keywords:
art; spirituality; adolescent spirituality; pacific spirituality; teenage spirituality; art and spirituality
Research Type:
Thesis
Languages:
English
Collections
- Thesis - Doctoral [3036]
- Theology* [160]