Taking pictures of Jesus

producing the material presence of a divine other

Edward Berryman

in: Human Studies 28 (4), 2005.

Abstract

A new form of visual representation of divine others is emerging: photography. I examine here a set of photos of deities related to an apparition claim. The goal I pursue is to analyze the self-constitutive features of these pictures – how they produce what they claim to be. I argue that the "presence' of the deities in the photos is achieved through "incarnation practices.' But these pictures are not just a factual representation of alleged mystical events. They constitute an update and a variation on the "Grand Christian Narrative' wherein the factual poses the moral problem of belief. In that sense, divine photography does not modify the epistemology of religious belief.