Amanda Dillon

Dr

Contact Details


PI NISAR Research Project
Senior House
All Hallows Campus
Grace Park Road
Drumcondra, Dublin 9
T:+353 1 7006042

E:amanda.dillon@dcu.ie

AHC S107
T:Ext. 6042

E:Amanda.Dillon@dcu.ie

T:N/A

E:Amanda.Dillon@dcu.ie

Government of Ireland Researcher
Senior House
All Hallows Campus
Grace Park Road
Drumcondra, Dublin 9
T:+353 1 7006042

E:amanda.dillon@dcu.ie
Profile Photo
Dr Amanda Dillon’s research specialisation is Biblical Reception History with a particular focus on the New Testament and Visual Culture. Amanda is currently leading an IRC-funded research project, NISAR, looking at women readers of scriptures and their visual expressions of their interpretations of sacred texts. Her research interests include: Biblical Reception, Visual Exegesis, Multimodal Analysis, Hermeneutics, Theology and the Visual Arts. Female characters in the New Testament and their afterlives are another significant dimension of her current research and teaching. Amanda's first monograph, Drawn to the Word: The Bible and Graphic Design was published by the Society of Biblical Literature Press (Atlanta, GA) in 2021.
She has published on the reception of the Bible in: 21st century lectionaries; contemporary Graphic Design; the art of Marc Chagall; Manga Bibles; Urban and Street Art.

Book

Year Publication
2021 (2021) Drawn to the Word: The Bible and Graphic Design. [Link]

Peer Reviewed Journal

Year Publication
2023 Dillon, A. (2023) '“I Am the Nail”: A Multimodal Analysis of a Contemporary Reception of Isaiah 53'. Religions, 14 . [Link] [DOI]
2021 (2021) 'Introduction'. POSTSCRIPTS: Special Issue: Sacred Texts and Digital Culture, . [Link] [DOI]
2021 (2021) 'Mapping the (Digital) Terrain Biblical Texts in Digital Contexts'. POSTSCRIPTS: Special Issue: Sacred Texts and Digital Culture, . [Link] [DOI]
2021 Amanda Dillon (2021) 'Bible Journaling as a Spiritual Aid in Addiction Recovery'. Religions, . [DOI]
2018 (2018) 'The Reception of King David in the Art of Marc Chagall'. PIBA (Proceedings of the Irish Biblical Association) 40 (2017), .
2013 (2013) 'Manga Bibles and their Treatment of the Female Characters in the Book of Judges'. Biblical Reception (2012), .

Book Chapter

Year Publication
2020 (2020) 'Be Your Own Scribe: Bible Journalling and the New Illuminators of the Densely-Printed Page' In: From Scrolls to Scrolling: Sacred Texts, Materiality, and Dynamic Media Cultures. [Link] [DOI]
2018 (2018) 'The Book of Kells and the Visual Identity of Ireland' In: Ireland and the Reception of the Bible: Social and Cultural Perspectives. [Link]
2015 (2015) 'Streetwise About the Bible: Unexpected Allusions (to the Text) in Unusual Places' In: Rethinking Biblical Literacy. [Link]
2015 (2015) 'The Rapture of Art and the Art of Rapture: Ernest Pignon-Ernest's Installation Exstases and the Evocation of Ecstasy' In: MYSTICISM IN THE FRENCH TRADITION: ERUPTIONS FROM FRANCE. [Link]

Web Page

Year Publication
2019 (2019) Banished Vashti. WEBP [Link]
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2023) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

Professional Associations

Association Function From / To
Irish Biblical Association Vice President 01/01/2009 -
Society of Biblical Literature Professional Membership 01/01/2009 -
European Association of Biblical Studies Professional membership 01/01/2020 -

Education

Start date Institution Qualification Subject
01/02/2014 Dublin City University PhD

Research Projects

Title Role Description Start date End date
The New Illuminators: Women in Search of Spiritual Authority and Resilience Principal Investigator This project is a study of an emerging trend among women readers of sacred texts and their creative visual interventions into, onto and beside those texts, as part of their own spiritual practice and engagement with spiritual writings. 
Significantly, this is an interpretative practice taking place within the context of traditionally conservative and patriarchal religious groups where the “meaning” of these texts has been and is conventionally determined by male authority figures. The project collates and cross references multiple images of journaled pages of sacred texts (the Bible and the Qur’an) using qualitative data analysis. The first databank of its kind forming an archival repository of these images shall be created and form the foundation of the ongoing research. Multimodal Analysis is the key methodological approach that will be brought to the semiotic analysis of these images. Lectio Divina is the method from Spirituality Studies that shall be used in focus groups. The purpose of bringing together these mixed approaches, both meta-analysis and focus groups is to analyse the development of spiritual autonomy and resilience, among women readers as primary interpreters of sacred texts. The valuing of this practice empowers women to develop their spiritual authority. 01/06/2022 01/06/2024

Current Postgraduate Students

Student Name Degree Supervision
Connolly ,Helena PhD-track Supervisor