Sacred Power, Sacred Space An Introduction to Christian Architecture and Worship

by Kilde, Jeanne Halgren

• ISBN13: 9780195336061
• ISBN10: 0195336062
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-07-21
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Jeanne Halgren Kilde's survey of church architecture is unlike any other. Her main concern is not the buildings themselves, but rather the dynamic character of Christianity and how church buildings shape and influence the religion. Kilde argues that a primary function of church buildings isto represent and reify three different types of power: divine power, or ideas about God; personal empowerment as manifested in the individual's perceived relationship to the divine; and social power, meaning the relationships between groups such as clergy and laity. Each type intersects withnotions of Christian creed, cult, and code, and is represented spatially and materially in church buildings. Kilde explores these categories chronologically, from the early church to the twentieth century. She considers the form, organization, and use of worship rooms; the location of churches; and the interaction between churches and the wider culture. Church buildings have been integral to Christianity, and Kilde's important study sheds new light on the way they impact all aspects of the religion. Neither mere witnesses to transformations of religious thought or nor simple backgrounds for religious practice, Kilde identifies church buildings asdynamic participants in religious change and goldmines of information on Christianity itself.

Author Biography

Jeanne Halgren Kilde is the author of When Church Became Theatre: The Transformation of Evangelical Architecture and Worship in Nineteenth-Century America. She is the Director of the Religious Studies Program at the University of Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	p. xi
A Method for Thinking about Power Dynamics in Christian Space	p. 3
Early Christian Meeting Space in the Roman Empire	p. 13
Imperial Power in Constantinian and Byzantine Churches	p. 39
From Abbey to Great Church, Fortress to Heavenly City	p. 61
Transformations of the Renaissance and Reformation	p. 91
Formalism and Non- or Antiformalism in Worship and Architecture	p. 131
Historicism, Modernism, and Space	p. 161
Concluding Observations	p. 199
Notes	p. 203
Glossary of Architectural Terms	p. 223
Index	p. 229
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