Teologia a obraz współczesności

Abstract

Visual theology is a new field of theological reflection, and as such, must apply for a determination of its status, which is its subject and method. This article focuses on the methodological aspects of the problem. The first part of the elaboration is dedicated to contemporary definitions of theology considered in the context of visual theology. Theology, in its basic meaning, is the science of God and the relationship between God, men and the world, as well as a set of science which explains contents of religious belief (including the dogmas). Faith in divine revelation is the main source of theology. The very name „visual theology” evokes a number of questions concerning, for example, the transition from verbal structure to structure of a picture. There is no doubt that theology is, was, and will remain a reality of intellectual reflection. However, it should read the signs of the times, among which the foremost place seems to be occupied by a tendency to dominate the culture of the image. Since the image is the work of men and it tells about its author, it may be a source of theological recognition. Such an image is the one of modernity that visual theology should read and interpret. Enlightenment domination of reason, freedom, understanding of time as history, secularization, an individual and individualization, an institution, relativism, tolerance and sociological changes are all together components of the image of contemporaneity and as such are mentioned in the article.