The little church in which I was confirmed, in 1967.
I'm kinda partial to it, though I haven't been inside it in years. Living 600 miles away might have something to do with that.
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.
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?
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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.
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.
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.
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.
How about simply because (for the most part) they’re ugly.
And the seating inside a round structure is NEVER user friendly.
The first circularly shaped Catholic church in the South, St. Michael, was built in Auburn, AL in 1966, only a few years after Vatican II.
I never could understand why they decided to build the church that way. It had to do with hiring a well known local architect, I think.
The little church in which I was confirmed, in 1967.
I'm kinda partial to it, though I haven't been inside it in years. Living 600 miles away might have something to do with that.
http://www.amazon.com/Ugly-As-Sin-Churches-Forthright/dp/1928832369
Here is an interesting book on the subject.
I totally agree with the writer on the topic of tacky design and absence of traditional symbols.
However round churches have a longer history than he credits. When the Templars came back to Europe from the Middle East, they started building round Churches - this would have been about 11th c. It is said that this was in imitation of the Golden Mosque in Jerusalem, which they held at that time, and utilized as a church.