sustain:if:able kiwi

Knitting as public theological witness

Researching Ordinary Knitters – people who knit for Christian projects in public spaces – has been a research side project for me since August 2021. This paper, if accepted, will be the first public articulation of data.

A paper proposal: Knitting as public theological witness

LOUDFence knitted strawberries, Newcastle 2024

This paper examines the ways in which acts of making are public theology. Matthew Engelke has researched how the Bible Society in the United Kingdom is active in public domains. He uses “ambient faith” as an analytical tool to theorise Christian activity that challenges the political and civic constraints imposed by the modern secular imaginary.

This paper applies “ambient faith” to recent practices of knitting in which Christians have been publicly active through yarnbombing and social activism. This paper draws on interviews with fifty knitters in four countries, along with participant observation of public interactions with several knitted projects, including visible displays of solidarity with those affected by abuse. While knitting is commonly seen as a domestic activity, done in private spaces, this paper describes how making offers new ways of relating and gives voice, particularly to lay women. Making as “ambient witness” offers new ways to think about the nature of public theology and Christian witness.