MULTIVALENCE, LIMINALITY, AND THE THEOLOGICAL IMAGINATION: CONTEXTUALISING THE IMAGE OF FIRE FOR CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN PRACTICE Rebekah Mary Dyer A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2018 Full metadata for this thesis is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this thesis: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/16452 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Multivalence, Liminality, and the Theological Imagination: Contextualising the image of fire for contemporary Christian practice Rebekah Mary Dyer This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of St Andrews June 2018 Candidate's declaration I, Rebekah Mary Dyer, do hereby certify that this thesis, submitted for the degree of PhD, which is approximately 80,000 words in length, has been written by me, and that it is the record of work carried out by me, or principally by myself in collaboration with others as acknowledged, and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for any degree. I was admitted as a research student at the University of St Andrews in September 2014. I, Rebekah Mary Dyer, received assistance in the writing of this thesis in respect of grammar and syntax, which was provided by Elizabeth Antell. I received funding from an organisation or institution and have acknowledged the funder(s) in the full text of my thesis. Date Signature of candidate Supervisor's declaration I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date Signature of supervisor Permission for publication In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews we understand that we are giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. We also understand, unless exempt by an award of an embargo as requested below, that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that this thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use and that the library has the right to migrate this thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I, Rebekah Mary Dyer, have obtained, or am in the process of obtaining, third-party copyright permissions that are required or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the publication of this thesis: Printed copy No embargo on print copy. Electronic copy No embargo on electronic copy. Date Signature of candidate Date Signature of supervisor Underpinning Research Data or Digital Outputs Candidate's declaration I, Rebekah Mary Dyer, hereby certify that no requirements to deposit original research data or digital outputs apply to this thesis and that, where appropriate, secondary data used have been referenced in the full text of my thesis. Date Signature of candidate Contents Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Dedication v Chapter 1: Thesis Introduction 1 First Movement: Orientation Chapter 2: Biblical Encounters with Fire 50 Chapter 3: Contemporary Encounters with Fire 77 Second Movement: Observation Chapter 4: Community Encounters with Fire 99 Chapter 5: Ritual Encounters with Fire 132 Third Movement: Application Chapter 6: Theological Encounters with Fire 191 Chapter 7: Thesis Conclusion 224 Bibliography 243 Appendices 262 Abstract This thesis contends that the image of fire is a multivalent and theologically valuable image for application in British Christian communities. My research offers an original contribution by contextualising the image of fire for Christian practice in Britain, and combining critical observation of several contemporary fire rites with theological analysis. In addition, I conduct original case studies of three Scottish fire rituals: the Stonehaven Fireball Ceremony, the Beltane Fire Festival, and Up-Helly-Aa in Lerwick, Shetland. The potential contribution of fire imagery to Christian practice has been overlooked by modern theological scholarship, social anthropologists, and Christian practitioners. Since the multivalence of the image has not been fully recognised, fire imagery has often been reduced to a binary of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ associations. Through my study of non-faith fire rituals and existing Christian fire practices, I explore the interplay between multivalence, multiplicity, and liminality in fire imagery. I demonstrate that deeper theological engagement with the image of fire can enhance participation, transformation, and reflection in transitional ritual experience. I argue that engaging with the multivalence of the image of fire could allow faith communities to move beyond dominant interpretive frameworks and apply the image within their own specific context. First, I orientate the discussion by examining the multivalence of biblical fire imagery and establishing the character of fire within the British social imagination. Second, I use critical observation of community fire practices in non-faith contexts to build a new contextual framework for the analysis of fire imagery. Finally, I apply my findings to a contextual analysis of existing Christian fire practices in Britain. Throughout, I argue that sensory and imaginative interaction with the image of fire provides a way to communicate and interact with theological ideas; experience personal and communal change; and mediate experience of the sacred. Acknowledgements The research involved in this thesis has given me some stories to tell, not least about those friends, family, and colleagues who have aided and inspired me. I am unable to tell most of those stories here, but I’d like to take a moment to express my gratitude to everyone who has helped me bring this thesis into existence. My thanks to the research community of the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA) at St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews, which has been my academic home since my M.Litt. studies in 2010-11. Thanks are especially due to Professor David Brown, who saw great potential in fire and the multivalence of imagery. I am all too aware of my privilege in being able to undertake research in a subject I love, and which has shaped me so profoundly over the years. I am more privileged still to find a research environment which has embraced the slightly esoteric, and at times frankly unpredictable, nature of my chosen research. I’m grateful to staff at both the University Library and King James Library for supplying me with stacks of weird and wonderful source material, from peerie guizers to French philosophy. I would also like to express my gratitude for the financial contribution made by St Mary’s College in the form of a travel grant, which enabled my field research in Shetland in 2017. To Dr Natasha O’Hear, my doctoral supervisor and an enduring source of wisdom and support: thank you for your kind words, your eagle-eyed feedback, and your enthusiasm for every new connection and discovery. I could have had no better supervisor. To my colleagues and fellow collaborators involved in TheoArtistry: I learned so much from each one of you. Thank you for sharing your insights so generously and with such personal and artistic integrity. Together, we made music and poetry (literally). To Dr Madhavi Nevader: Drinks? I’d like to thank the teams at CAPOD and the Exams Office, who made it possible for me to complete my doctorate without a nightmarish amount of debt. It was a pleasure being gainfully employed by you. In particular, my thanks to Dr Eilidh Harris, Sherrill Keefe, and Caroline Patrick for making me part of the team. Acknowledgements | Page iii My research only came into being thanks to a ‘confluence of influences.’ To describe them all would be to embark on a memoir which would rival this thesis in length, so I will restrict myself to a few honourable mentions. My eternal thanks to Scott McDonald, who ignited my fascination with fire by handing me a burning fire staff on a dark beach at midnight. (This sounds like an orchestrated fire rite. It wasn’t, but it turned out to be a rite of passage nonetheless.) There’s nothing like spinning flame while the North Sea roars behind you. It’s no overstatement to say he risked life and limb when he captured footage of a swirling rain of fire on a mythic Shetland night. Thank you to the ‘swingers’ of Stonehaven, the elementals of Beltane, and the noble warriors of the Shetland Isles for making their fearsome and fascinating fire rites available to observers like me. My particular thanks to the Shetland Museum and Archives for allowing me to glimpse fire festivals past on microfilm. My gratitude to Simon Lidwell, and especially his alter ego Cathbad Cèile-dè, who taught me how to kindle a fire like a true Viking. Thanks, also, to Kate Lidwell, who endured our late- night blacksmithing over her garden fire pit. There is no doubt that this thesis would not exist were it not for my friends and faculty from London School of Theology. I will be forever grateful to Professor Steve Walton, Dr Conrad Gempf, and Dr Anna Robbins for their guidance and encouragement in theology and in life. Additional thanks to Revs Barney & Zoe Pimentel, Briana Raye Bryan, Emma Guille, Helen Crawford, and Miriam Kendrick for their friendship and support many years on.