Research Project

Children’s Religious Drawings - Analysis of the Drawing Process


Projects of empirical research which use children’s drawings to analyze the religious representations of children are not only rare, but unsatisfactory in their research design because they are based on drawings as final products only. The final products only scarcely yield inferences in the drawing process. Therefore it can be maintained that previous research did pay little attention to the child’s subjectivity and creativity. Also, in most research projects in the literature, a somewhat narrow developmental perspective is dominant, focusing on the contrast between the anthropomorphic vs. symbolic character of the God representation.

This is what motivated us to explore new ways which rest on the perspective on children as subjects of their own religious world and their religious development. Key questions therefore are: Which insights into the child’s subjective creative competencies in dealing with and expressing religious representations can be gained from an analysis of the process of drawing or painting religious contents. In a pilot project 1997 - 2000, we have analyzed the drawing process of children on the basis of video recordings, when they are drawing a picture of God. Short interviews were conducted in order to supplement the documentation and assist interpretation. The analyses of the paintings show the dynamics of a process: How do children elaborate their own religious representations? Which schemata do they take into consideration? With which intentions and interpretations do they integrate and modify these schemata? Which are the influences of conditions of religious socialization and milieu, and of media in particular, on the children’s visualizations of God? The research in the pilot phase of the project has documented the creative process in pre-schoolers, i.e. of girls and boys from 5 to 6 years of age drawing in company of two or three. In terms of faith orientations, the field of study extends across kindergartens administrated by the Protestant and the Catholic Church and by secular institutions. Results are published, see Streib 1999; 2000.

The dissertation project of Manuela Wiedmaier has continued this line of research. in a larger sample of primary school children. Two or three children were invited to draw a picture of God in these small, "natural" groups of children who knew each other well and have s´pent time together in scholl and on the playground. More than 25 such drawing session have bee videotaped. In detailled sequence anatlytical evaluation, the video have been analyszed. This way, the dynamics of the drawing process and the relfection processes during the drawing process could be taken into account. Special attention was also given to the interactive dynamic of the children. OIn the background of contemporary theories of self socialization in peer groups the drawing process could be understood as learning or formation process. The project was completed with Manuela Wiedmaier's Prootion in July 2006. Her results are documented in a book:

Wiedmaier, M. (2008). Wenn sich Mädchen und Jungen Gott und die Welt ausmalen. Feinanalysen filmisch dokumentierter Malprozesse. Wahrnehmende Theologie. Studien zur Erfahrung und religiösen Lebenswelt, Bd. 3, Münster: Lit Verlag.