Visual Culture and American Religions

Abstract

Abstract Scholarship on the visual culture in American religions has flourished in the past three decades. Scholars from myriad disciplines have generated essays, monographs, and edited volumes that examine everything from fine art paintings to popular prints, church architecture to yard shrines, and folk art to graphic novels. In this essay, I provide an abbreviated explanation for the explosion of scholarship on visual culture and American religions in the 1980s and 1990s to highlight prominent approaches to the subject in contemporary scholarship. Then, I outline a few of the major themes that stimulate the scholarly field, including popular religion, consumption, cross‐cultural encounters, sacred space, modern and postmodern art, and dress. Finally, I consider challenges faced by contemporary scholars in developing and strengthening this interdisciplinary area of inquiry.

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