Photography as a Spiritual Practice

May 19, 2017 Missional Wisdom Foundation

Photography as a Spiritual Practice

The Missional Wisdom Foundation is proud to announce the launch of Journey, our newest educational initiative.

As we experiment with alternate forms of Christian community in the Missional Wisdom Foundation, we also stop to share the lessons we've learned along the way. Journey is a hub for learning and engagement with standalone courses taught by our exceptional group of instructors. Earlier this week, subscribers to our Journey email list received a one-time code for 20% off a course. To get your code and receive notifications when new courses become available, sign up here.

One of the courses now open for registration, Photography as a Spiritual Practice: Reclaiming Our Encounter with God, is taught by Ryan Klinck:

This past semester at Perkins School of Theology, I led groups of students through a spiritual practice that I designed for a final project in my Spiritual Practices and Pathways class. This spiritual practice interwove aspects of lectio divina, silence, iconography, and film photography into prayer space. Many students were moved by the experience, especially during a time when they were overwhelmed with finals.

Here are a few examples from the project:

Photo 1: Little Bottle

"Feeling bottled up. I am not quite full, just like the bottle. I also like that the bottle is from Louisiana, just like me."

Photo 2: Papers

"Sacredness of the time I am in; it is not for nothing. This is an experience we may not ever get again, and many do not get the opportunity to do what we do, to take what we learn into ministry.

Participant 17, Photo 1: Stairwell

"Feeling of one more step towards the window. Feeling a bit aimless after the semester, with the structure of it all ending. I have a lot of fear around taking finals and what happens after them.

Photo 2: Glasses

"The glasses speak to noticing that the fear was unnecessary, it is my own overthinking. The exams are not as terrifying as my fear tells me. Glasses tell me to look at what actually happened in the experience. Fear is disproportionate, it is important to look at our own catalyzing.