Visual Myths

Abstract

Is visual communication primarily contingent upon physical elements to be seen with the eye, or does visuality also extend into the imagination? Despite the progress of modernity since the Enlightenment, a different form of thinking exists that is predicated upon visual metaphors and mythic structures. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to unfold the position of thinking visually to the realm of religious beliefs emanating from ancient oral cultures who often created connections of natural, rhetorical objects with the metaphysical through the mythic imagination. Throughout this paper, the author analyzes three ekphrastic texts concerning visions of God's glory at the Tabernacle, Jerusalem Temple, and in the person of Jesus within Judeo-Christian thought. This research will analyze such visual thinking through Biblical teachings that demonstrate various forms of ekphrasis (Grk. “speak out”) in which specific verbal descriptions represent interaction between physical and divine planes and thus contiguity.