Christian Architecture: Church Architecture

In the fourth century C.E. Christianity throughout the Roman world underwent a dramatic change. The rather few modest and private houses that had served the Christian congregations were replaced by numerous larger basilicas. This process was accelerated in the Holy Land, the cradle of Christianity. Indeed,the survey of churches of the Byzantine and Crusader periods in Israel has noted several hundred foundations, either of simple congregational churches in cities or villages, or of lavish edifices commemorating the "loca sancta". Many of these ruins time. Others have previously been published in detail. It is not the aim of this volume to present a complete corpus of excavated churches, but merely to provide an insight into the vast new material in a semipopular, amply illustrated, but professional manner. Most of the reports were written by the archaeologists who carried out the excavations. Thus, we are provided with a firsthand summary of current activity in the field of Christian archaeology in Israel. Like the previously-published volumes of "The Holy Land Revealed" series of the Israel Exploration Society, "Jerusalem Revealed" and "Ancient Synagogues Revealed", this book, primarily, is based on articles which appeared in the Hebrew quarterly, "Qadmoniot" (1968-1990). To these were added papers from other Hebrew publications; however, several articles were written especially for this volume.

This book provides a wide-ranging account of all aspects of artistic and architectural achievement in the Christian world up to the middle of the sixth century.Excavation in recent decades has unearthed a remarkable collection of sites and objects which illustrate the growth of the Christian Church and its way of life.The classic achievements of Rome,Ravenna and Constantinople are of course included,but so are discoveries in outposts of Syria,the Balkans and North Africa. The early forms of Christian art and architecture were rudimentary,since they were essentially practical;early Christians were convinced that the world was shortly to end,and so had no time for artistic fancies.Constantine's support of the Christian Church gave it new impetus.Called upon to assume a moral and cultural leadership in the declining Roman Empire,the Church rallied to its cause able craftsmen who,despite differing social and geographical backgrounds,produced a unity and cohesion in its art and architecture. The author's readable and attractive style leads the reader easily from one part of the Mediterranean to another.With photographs,plans and maps the whole field of early Christian art and architecture is surveyed.-Dust jacket.

The Allegory of the church is the first full-length study of Romanesque verse inscriptions in the context of church portals and portal sculpture, and is the product of a twenty-year study. Calvin B. Kendall demonstrates how these inscriptions served to express the role of the church building as a concrete allegory of Christ and the Church. Describing them in detail, he traces the history and nature of the changes in allegorical interpretation of the inscriptions until, as medieval assumptions about language and rhetoric changed, they were finally abandoned by Gothic artists.

A focused study of mid-twentieth-century church architecture,"Building the Modern Church" considers how architects and clergy constructed the image and reality of the Church as an institution through its buildings.The author examines changing conceptions of tradition and modernity,and the development of a modern church architecture that drew from the ideas of the liturgical movement.The role of Catholic clergy as patrons of modern architecture and art and the changing attitudes of the Church and its architects to modernity are examined,explaining how different strands of post-war architecture were adopted in the field of ecclesiastical buildings.The church building's social role in defining communities through rituals and symbols is also considered,together with the relationships between churches and modernist urban planning in the towns and suburbs.Case studies analyzed in detail include significant buildings and architects that have remained little known until now.

This book traces developments in church building through the momentous changes in architecture and theology in the twentieth century. It illustrates the broad spectrum of modern ecclesiastical architecture which has emerged as the synthesis of the pluralism of the turn of the century and the purity and clarity of the Modern Movement.

In recent decades semiotics has succeeded in establishing itself as a discipline with international recognition.As a discipline specifically devoted to the study of signs and signs systems,it is relevant to the discipline of theology,working as it does with verbal and non-verbal signs. Since 1976 Semanet,a Dutch study group,has applied Greimassian semiotics to linguistic theological staements.More recently,Gerard Lukken undertook the analysis of church buildings.It was at that stage that Mark Searle joined Semanet during a sabbatical leave.He applied the analytical method to a particular church:SS.Peter and Paul in Tilburg,which is of interest both as a representative modern church and as a particularly intriguing object for semiotic analysis.The book shows how Greimassian semiotic theory as it relates to architecture was developed into a usable method for analysing particular church buildings and then demonstrates how such an analysis might be conducted. The book contains numerous full colour reproductions.

The Second Vatican Council's "Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy" has had an important effect on the design and construction of contemporary churches. The author here demonstrates the relationship between liturgical practices and church architecture. He also examines the political, economic and social factors that dictated architectural expression from the time of the catacombs to the magnificent creations of Le Corbusier.

Contents/General and Descriptive/Elements of Architecture/Egyptian Architecture/Chaldaean,Assyrian and Persian,Architecture/The five Orders of Architecture/Greek Architecture/Roman Architecture/Early Christian Architecture/Basilican Church Architecture/Byzantine Church Architecture/Romanesque Church Architecture/Gothic Church Architecture/Renaissance Church Architecture/Modern Architecture/ Principles of Architectural Design/Economics of Construction/Acoustics/Artificial LIghtning/Modern Heating/Art Glass

Not content to limit himself to theory ,Rose in "Ugly as Sin" takes you on a revealing tour through a traditional church and a modern church.He shows conclusively how the traditional church communicates the Faith,while the modern one simply doesn't.In the process,he'll give you a renewed love and gratitude for the gift of faith that is your traditional church-plus a keener sense of just what's wrong with modern churches that look like anything but churches.Rose provides you with solid arguments(as easy to explain as they are hard to refute!)and practical tools taht you can use to reverse the dangerous trend toward desacralized churches-and to make our churches once again into magnificent Houses Of God.

In presenting this work to the reader,the author claims no originality.He has merely endeavored to make a compilation of the laws of the church concerning the buildings and furnishings of a church as found elsewhere in many volumes which are not easily accessible to the busy pastor.The single objective of the author is to be of assistance to the bishops in their Canonical Visitations and to the busy pastors in building and remodeling their churches and chapels.

Catalog of an exhibition held in the Sala Borromini, Piazza della Chiesa nuova, 18, Rome, Oct. 9-22, 1999.
At head of title: Agenzia per la città [and others].