Seeing Together: A visual ethnographic investigation of “whiteness” in Baptist worship spaces to inform Baptist ecclesiology and transform Baptist ecclesial practices

Seeing Together: Abstract Erica Whitaker This dissertation seeks answers to how might a visual ethnographic investigation of “whiteness” in U.S. Baptist worship spaces inform Baptist ecclesiology, and how might “whiteness” be reformed in the future within ecclesial settings? “Whiteness,” as defined by scholar Richard Dyer in his research, White: Essays on Race and Culture, refers to the aesthetic, social, and cultural visuals within Western society. By means of Dyer’s analysis of “white makings of whiteness,” the study exposes how religious and political institutions have historically reinforced white norms as an invisible and authoritative influence. Theologian Willie Jennings strengthens this critique, claiming that whiteness is a distortion of the order of creation and a European concept that is a “rarely spoken but always understood organizing structure.” This dissertation seeks to illuminate how whiteness shapes ecclesial communities and their ideological and theological understanding. Accepting Jennings’ definitions of whiteness as a distorted imagination of God and creation, this research utilizes visual ethnographic methodology to examine visual elements of two predominantly white Baptist churches in the US. Focusing on symbols, artwork, architecture, and other ocular elements, this research searches for racialized theologies in worship spaces. Through video and photographic documentation and participant interviews, the study explores how whiteness operates in the visual environment according to what is seen, valued, and sanctified. Jennings contends that any redemptive theological future “requires an intense consideration of the formative power of whiteness.” Expanding on his insight, this research investigates how the powers of whiteness function within Baptist ecclesial life. The study asks how the visual elements of church space, design, and material choice reproduce and reinforce theological norms about purity, authority, and belonging. This project also seeks to reform visual and liturgical practices that are identified within the research. This is a study focused on Baptist worship spaces constructed in the South during the US Reconstruction period and the Jim Crow era. These buildings are connected to the architectural and symbolic products of a racially segregated US that continues to shape ecclesial identity today. Engaging the history of space and place, the research aims to illuminate the theological imaginations of Baptist congregations and how they might be shaped by whiteness through unseen visual elements. Using visual ethnographic observation and analysis, the study attempts to see and deconstruct the power of whiteness in these ecclesial spaces. Ultimately, this project seeks to contribute to the evolving theological and ethical discourse on race and ecclesial formation. Harnessing the methods of visual ethnography in Baptist ecclesiology, the study proposes movement towards an antiracist Christian moral vision in its effort to make whiteness visible. This research envisions ecclesial reform that calls for reconciliation and justice to redeem white Baptist spaces.