American Sanctuary

by Nelson, Louis P.

• ISBN13: 9780253346995
• ISBN10: 0253346991
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-01
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

This volume examines a diverse set of spaces and buildings seen through the lens of popular practice and belief to shed light on the complexities of sacred space in America. Contributors explore how dedication sermons document shifting understandings of the meetinghouse in early 19th-century Connecticut; the changes in evangelical church architecture during the same century and what that tells us about evangelical religious life; the impact of contemporary issues on Catholic church architecture; the impact of globalization on the construction of traditional sacred spaces; the urban practice of Jewish space; nature worship and Central Park in New York; the mezuzah and domestic sacred space; and, finally, the spiritual aspects of African American yard art.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
1. Introduction
Louis P. Nelson	1	(16)
I. Inscription
2. New England Orthodoxy and the Language of the Sacred
Gretchen Buggeln	17	(20)
3. God in Gotham: The Design of Sacred Space in New York's Central Park
Paula A. Mohr	37	(28)
4. The Urban Practice of Jewish Space
Jennifer Cousineau	65	(24)
II. Identity
5. Salvage/Salvation: Recent African American Yard Shows
John Beardsley	89	(14)
6. Spaces for a New Public Presence: The Sri Siva Vishnu and Murugan Temples in Metropolitan Washington, D.C.
Joanne Punzo Waghorne	103	(25)
7. Getting beyond Gothic: Challenges for Contemporary Catholic Church Architecture
Paula M. Kane	128	(29)
III. Instability
8. Word, Shape, and Image: Anglican Constructions of the Sacred
Louis P. Nelson	157	(25)
9. The Mezuzah: American Judaism and Constructions of Domestic Sacred Space
Erika Meitner	182	(21)
10. Mythic Pieties of Permanence: Memorial Architecture and the Struggle for Meaning
Jeffrey F. Meyer	203	(22)
IV. Toward a Method
11. Reading Megachurches: Investigating the Religious and Cultural Work of Church Architecture
Jeanne Halgren Kilde	225	(26)
Select Bibliography	251	(18)
Contributors	269	(2)
Index	271