Spotlight on Staff
Dr Amanda Dillon (centre) with PhD Student Helena Connolly (left) and Summer Research Intern Helena Cutbil (right) at work on the archive of bible journal images.
Amanda Dillon is the Principal Investigator on an exciting Research Ireland funded project entitled: The New Illuminators: Women in Search of Spiritual Authority and Resilience (NISAR). This research project is a study of an emerging trend among women readers of sacred texts and their creative written and drawn interventions into, onto and beside those texts, as part of their own spiritual practice and engagement with spiritual writings. This creative journaling practice is in its infancy and yet growing exponentially—given that the first Journaling Bibles were published in 2014. "I suggest this phenomenon is an early signal of a paradigm shift underway in the way women interpret their scriptures and women’s roles in the spiritual and religious arenas of society."
Bible Journaling is a spiritual practice of personal reflection on the Bible – with discernible links to the ancient practice of Lectio Divina—and yet distinctly novel as a trend amongst lay readers of the Bible. Most significantly, with few exceptions, this is practiced in the majority by female readers. This gender dimension marks it out as a spiritual-reading practice that is unprecedented in the history of the reception of sacred scriptures and writings. Contra the ‘digital turn’ this form of journaling involves an active and creative engagement with the material book of the Bible. Readers, empowered with a plenitude of art supplies and stationery accessories, draw and make designs directly into their Bibles—illustrating verses and passages that have particular personal resonance for them. This project considers the agency taken by readers in the making of these creative interventions to the densely-printed and “sacred” page and how these readers have become illuminators of their own Bibles.
Significantly, this is an interpretative practice taking place predominantly 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 including pastors, clerics, preachers and scholars.
The spiritual autonomy of women is a highly contested area in contemporary spiritual and religious arenas. Women have historically been excluded from the decision-making, preaching and teaching positions in most mainstream religions. In many religious settings, including contemporary Christian denominations, women are prevented from holding positions of spiritual leadership and ministry in the faith community. Primary among these is the capacity of women to preach and teach. Reasons for this prohibition against women preaching and teaching in the congregation are often claimed and cited from the scriptures themselves. The aim of this project is to investigate the spiritual autonomy gained, exercised and expressed by women readers of the Bible through their creative journaling practice.
The practice of journaling with a sacred text, at once highly personal and private, and yet now widely, publicly shared online, is an act of interpretation, appropriation and internalisation and therefore, potentially, of finding meaning for oneself through a personal encounter with the text. This experience can and may open what participants understand as new avenues of encounter with the Divine, that challenge previously held beliefs about the role and place of women in relation to God, and in society more generally. Highlighting female agency is an important element of advocating liberation from religiously prescribed narratives and roles. My research seeks to establish whether or to what extent this practice of Bible-journaling empowers women to find their own personal spiritual meaning in the text, beyond the teaching traditionally handed on from male authority figures and whether these personal meanings bring about transformative change in daily life?
One aspect of the project is the creation of a database of Bible Journaling entries. Currently we have over 2000 entries organised thematically into over 40 different collections reflecting key texts, topics, and areas of spirituality that feature most commonly in the practice. These collections are the focus of further research being undertaken
Beyond the Bible Journaling being done in the US, I am also looking further afield to see how this practice is developing in other countries internationally. A workshop was held in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, for example, with a group of African women looking at the texts of Proverbs 31 and John 20:11–17, Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the risen Christ in the garden. Interviews were also conducted with highly-engaged South African journalers who have in effect become social media ‘influencers’ of a sort, and are now managing small cottage industries creating resources for journalers globally. In recent times, AI-generated images have come to the fore and this in turn raises many complex questions about the role of images and of personal creativity in this practice.
The Netherlands has emerged as the leading country in Europe for Bible Journaling, with a significant group of highly-engaged practitioners producing profound and innovative work revealing a depth of theological and spiritual reflection. Interviews have been conducted with some of these leading Dutch journalers. Other research has included examining alcohol and drug addiction amongst journalers and the role that Bible journaling has played in their therapy and recovery. This article looked at the journaled pages of recovering addicts and made a semiotic analysis of the visual and verbal content in relation to the biblical texts used.
I propose that in the same way that we continue to value and study illuminated manuscripts created over a millennium ago— and they count amongst our most highly valued cultural artefacts—the work currently being done by these women illuminating their own sacred texts may become highly valued cultural artefacts and objects of study. They have the potential for helping us understand how people receive, interpret and engage with sacred texts.