Posted on 12/07/2014 5:36:40 AM PST by NYer
Have you noticed that nobody loves modern churches? Nobody. I mean NOBODY.
Seriously. Have you ever met anyone who sees a church like this and and heard them whisper, “I just love that church! It is so inspiring!”.
No. Never.
Have you ever gone into a “worship space” like this and heard someone say how awed they were to be in the presence of God? I doubt it. 
That’s because these buildings were not designed to inspire awe or to remind you about the presence of God. They are people centered, not God centered. They are auditoria not temples.
There is a gut level negative respond to these buildings. Even those who have got used to them make comments like, “Well, it’s our church and we’re doing the best we can.” Worse still, they have grown up with these monstrosities and they do not know of anything else.
I have spent the last week in central Missouri worshipping in a beautifully restored country church built at the end of the 1800′s. My heart opened in worship simply because the space was sacred, simple and beautiful.
The gut level rejection of the modern, brutal, utilitarian barns is not merely a hankering after “ole time traditions”. It is not simply a nostalgia for the past or a question of personal preference.
We react negatively to round churches because we want to be oriented towards God in worship, not towards one another.
Furthermore, everyone knew this down the ages. That’s why there was a certain pattern to Christian churches, and did you know the pattern was actually established by God?
In the Old Testament God revealed to Moses how to build the tabernacle–the traveling tent/temple they used in the wilderness. The tabernacle was rectangular with a large outer meeting place of the people. Then there was the “Holy Place” for the priests and this was surmounted by the “Holy of Holies” where the Ark of the Covenant was lodged. The Ark of the Covenant was the Throne of God himself.
This was the prescribed plan for a building to worship God, and the Temple in Jerusalem was a larger, permanent version of the tabernacle.
Now nobody is suggesting that Christian churches should be traveling tents (although the preachers in the American south used to do pretty well in their tent meeting revival services) Neither am I suggesting that we should build churches that are replicas of Solomon’s temple.
But there was a basic pattern here that was followed in all Christian churches from the earliest days. The pattern was of a three fold, hierarchical space. A large meeting space for the people, a next step into the holy place for the priests and then the dwelling place of God which is the Holy of Holies.
Catholic churches, (with a few very rare exceptions) maintained this pattern. There was the nave where the people met, the chancel for the priests and at the far east end was the “Holy of Holies” the tabernacle–where Christ our God resides. Between the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place there was hung a heavy curtain as a divider. This is why inside the tabernacle of a Catholic Church today we hang a small curtain or veil.
This three fold pattern was the basic template for all churches. It worked. It was understood. There was also another significance. The direction of the traditional church is linear. There is a beginning and and end–an Alpha and Omega point. You entered the West doors and your eye moved forward to the summit where Christ was in the tabernacle. This reflected life’s journey. This is why the font was at the back of the church. You entered by the font and moved forward in life to your final home in heaven. The chancel and tabernacle therefore represented the destination of your journey.
A round church undermines that. There is no beginning and end a round church says. Paganism is circular with its never ending cycle of life. Christianity is linear. There is a beginning and end of our lives and of all things.
So that’s why you hate the round churches. There’s plenty more to hate as well–the cheap materials, the shoddy workmanship, the tacky, low cost furniture, the candles that are really electric lights that you pay a nickel to light up, the mass felt banners and the artificially cheerful atmosphere–but the real reason the round churches are so despised are the deeper reasons I’ve outlined.
They are despised because Catholics sense that something is wrong with this architecture. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t inspire prayer. It doesn’t lift the heart. It doesn’t draw you to God, and it doesn’t do all those things because it runs counter to the very plan for a temple that God himself ordained.
I make it a point of asking our priests if they received any training at all when they were in seminary on the principles and history of sacred architecture. Did they receive any training during their liturgy classes on what makes a church Christian, what works in worship and why? I have not found one priest who has been trained in these matters. And yet they are supposed to go out and renovate churches, build churches and redevelop churches? What kind of training are they getting? Why are they not being trained in the sacred tradition so they know what to do?
Interior new Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Greenville, SC
Recall that following the Ascension of our Lord, the Apostles set out to bring the good news to the world. Initially, they began with the Jews. Entire communities converted and their synagogues became the first churches. To this day, there are still Churches that retain the bema.
BEMA (BAY ma) (Syriac): Following Jewish Temple roots, some *Syriac church buildings - found from Antiochto Mesopotamia - contain a special place or area at which the Scriptures were read. This U-shaped structure was located often in the midst of the congregation, in front of the curtain of the sanctuary area of the church. This area was called the bema, and many Antiochene and Syriac texts attest that the *Service of the Word was conducted here.
The reason that I hate them is because they KEEP PUSHING AMNESTY, along with Communism for Central and South America. Other than that, I don’t have much problem.
Correctomundo!!This months Diocesan newspaper does just that with a headline that PRAISES Obama's amnesty program. Of course we live here on the border and haven't much experience with the disaster that is unchecked immigration and the crime and disease that it brings./s
Furthermore, everyone knew this down the ages. That’s why there was a certain pattern to Christian churches, and did you know the pattern was actually established by God?
I keep pointing people to this book, because it's really good: G. K. Beale, The Temple and the Church's Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God.
From Eden to the new Jerusalem. Read, enjoy.
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. . . . And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem. . . . And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man." (Revelation 21:1-3, ESV). In this comprehensive study, G. K. Beale argues that the Old Testament tabernacle and temples were symbolically designed to point to the end-time reality that God's presence, formerly limited to the Holy of Holies, would be extended throughout the cosmos. Hence, John's vision in Revelation 21 is best understood as picturing the new heavens and earth as the eschatological temple. Beale's stimulating exposition traces the theme of the tabernacle and temple across the Bible's story-line, illuminating many texts and closely-related themes along the way. He shows how the significance and symbolism of the temple can be better understood in the context of ancient Near Eastern assumptions, and offers new insights into the meaning of the temple in both Old and New Testaments.---Amazon blurb
I make it a point of asking our priests if they received any training at all when they were in seminary on the principles and history of sacred architecture. Did they receive any training during their liturgy classes on what makes a church Christian, what works in worship and why? I have not found one priest who has been trained in these matters.
3 or 4 years ago I went to a relative's funeral in a Roman Catholic church. This building was new -- the last time I'd been through there the lot was a parking lot. (The old building was a more traditional 19th century structure that struck me as needing renovation.) The new structure was a kind of third round design.
I found myself noting a lot of the architectural details. I wanted to quiz the priest afterwards on their significance (in light of what I'd read in the Beale book above), but did not get a chance.
1 Corinthians 3:16 (NIV)
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
************************
Perhaps if we focused on God’s dwelling within our hearts and not on externals like buildings, regardless of their shape, or even their existence at all, we would grow closer to Him.
They will be easy to convert to Mosques when the time comes.
If I walk into a church and see a drum kit I am out of there.
LOL! very good.
One building I do like is the round veterinary hospital in Red Bank, NJ. It’s a very nice building. I wonder what it would be like to work in a round place, I wonder if it would change one’s views on the world in general.
I love modern architecture. This person doesn’t speak for me when he says no one like it. I really have no use for replica structures that try to ape centuries old styles.
“Perhaps if we focused on God’s dwelling within our hearts and not on externals like buildings, regardless of their shape, or even their existence at all, we would grow closer to Him.”
What’s wrong with you!? A grand church building is directly proportional to the devotion of the followers! Remember the grand church building erected by the disciples? It had a big, uh, you know and many, many beautiful, uh, things of that time. People like you always try to insert scripture truth into serious discussions!
Tag not needed. I hope.
There exist quite beautiful and inspiring round structures, some of which are even churches. There’s a beautiful Greek Orthodox Church over a century old not too far from me that is fundamentally a round structure. So, it’s not that configuration in and of itself that creates a negative reaction. The negative reaction comes from the intentional soullessness of it, the coldness and lack of love. This, I would say, was and is intentional. There exist people within your church and within other churches who are on some level hostile. That’s where the ugly comes from, it’s both spiritual and physical. Then, you have some Protestant denominations who manage to have beautiful church structures that were perhaps once inspirational and could be again, but are now less than a quarter filled with soulless people who congregate there to socialize. So, it’s not the structure in and of itself that inspires. The structure is secondary.
That would be a mistake because at our church only one out of the four Masses uses the drums and guitars.
The other three Masses are done with organ and piano.
This article is about architecture and a distaste for certain circular building configurations. However, bigots always find room for their religious bigotry when they think others might agree with their vitriol. The fact that you would publicly claim to hate a Christian religion for a political reason says a great deal about you. Too bad you posted without reading the article or even carefully reading the title, that will leave a mark!
The physical church matters not one wit. I have been to Mass celebrated on the hood of a jeep or in the hold of a ship. It is still Mass and it praises God no matter where it happens to occur. The fighting chaplains of WWII, Korea and Vietnam didn’t wait around for a conveniently designed edifice in which to hold their services.
The problem with this theory?
” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom...”
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”...
...But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.”
As a non-Catholic, I see the circular designs, as an infolding of ‘feng shue’, a re-directing of ‘energy flows’ opposite of what the original tabernacle in the desert was designed for.
The sheltered mercy seat was to be where g-d sat, and inhabited the praise of His people, as they worshipped. that energy flow was from heaven down to the seat, and then dispensed, as implied. it is not a downward ‘splash’ with everyone getting some of it. The SEAT was splashed, yes, but with the sacrifices of the worshippers via the high priest, if he did not get toasted, first. the SEAT was NOT for all the eyes to be set upon, unlike a circular church of today.
Now, there might be a few standing circular churches of olde, that also were the ‘fortresses’ of the town, i would hope those years have been far enough past to not emulate that, today.
Even the Greeks had their meeting place, so to speak, farther back inside their buildings, too.
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