Theology in Stone: Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley.
Williams, Peter W.
Theology in Stone: Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley.
By Richard Kieckhefer. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. xii +
372 pp. $39.95 cloth.
Richard Kieckhefer has in this work made a monumental contribution
to the role of religious architecture in the development of the history
of Christianity. Theology in Stone, however, is not simply a work of
church history, although it certainly is that. Kieckhefer here brings
together at least four different disciplinary perspectives in order to
illuminate what can scarcely be understood from only one, that is, the
history of Christianity, liturgical theology, the phenomenology of
worship and its built environment, and the history and criticism of
architecture. Throughout, he displays the enormous historical erudition that we have come to expect of his work; however, Kieckhefer here
focuses not only on his particular field of expertise, the medieval
period, but surveys the state of worship and its architecture up to the
present day as well, especially in the United States and Europe but in
the Third World as well.
Although Theology in Stone is always informed by a strong sense of
historical development, its organization is complex. The first half of
the book is divided according to the four analytical categories
Kieckhefer employs: spatial dynamics, centering focus, aesthetic impact,
and symbolic resonance. He also provides a typology of three types of
churches: the "classic sacramental," the evangelical, and the
"modern communal," which work well enough as abstractions when
considering most types of Christian building except, perhaps, that of
such sectarians as the Amish and Quakers. He also makes clear that he is
most interested in the first category, which most richly illustrates the
aspects of worship on which he focuses and with which he, speaking from
within the theological perspective of liturgical Christianity, most
identifies. As a result, he skims rather lightly over the Neoclassical
architectural tradition associated primarily with the evangelical,
preaching-oriented church and dwells at considerably greater length on
the Gothic.
Kieckhefer shifts gears in the second half to consider three case
studies: late medieval Beverley in England, Chicago in its brief
history, and the work of a single twentieth-century church architect,
the German Catholic Rudolf Schwarz. Although each contains a complex
discussion, these studies correspond to the author s analytical
categories: the role of a Gothic church in late medieval social and
religious life; the development of the Protestant meetinghouse in the
context of pluralistic modern urban life; and the art, thought, and
praxis of one of the exemplary designers of the "modern
communal" church type. In the first two of these essays Kieckhefer
focuses more on the social and political forces that have shaped
religious building, an approach that is largely absent from the rest of
his analysis. The book ends with an erudite, lively, and sometimes dense
discussion of the discourse of liturgical theology and religious
architecture during the past two centuries, which is informed by the
author's own strong views on the subject but not to the detriment
of the clarity of representation of all sides.
Kieckhefer, in short, has an agenda: he is not simply explicating a
line of historical development in its complexity over two millennia, but
he is also speaking, respectfully and learnedly, as a participant in an
ongoing conversation (or, frequently, argument). Here he is interacting
not only with architects and theologians but also with phenomenologists
such as Mircea Eliade, Rudolph Otto, Harold Turner, and Lindsay Jones.
His emphasis on understanding a building not simply through the
intentionality of the architect but also through the perceptions and
practices of its users, sometimes over many centuries, is a clear nod to
Jones's idea of a religious building as a
"ritual-architectural event," that is, as a project in process
rather than a static entity with a fixed meaning and purpose. As such,
this work should be of considerable interest to
religionswissenschaftlich scholars as well as to historians of
Christianity, architectural historians, and liturgical theologians.
Those expecting a disengaged and strictly disciplinary approach,
however, will be disappointed or annoyed.
Given Kieckhefer's premises--which largely exclude, as noted
earlier, an emphasis on the social and political--the unfolding of his
work is learned, magisterial, and rigorously logical, as well as
typological. The writing, while complex, is clear and engaging and
occasionally borders on the epigrammatic: "Christianity has never
quite foresworn the sacrality of chthonic dark" (107). The
principal shortcoming lies in the two dozen or so black-and-white
illustrations, printed on paper designed for type, and often, especially
in the interior shots, less than fully legible. One suspects that a
publisher's parsimony may be at fault here. The author does direct
readers to a web site that contains many more and better illustrations,
but not all scholars care to read with a computer screen close at hand.
That being said, one can only commend the author for producing such a
rich, engaging, and stimulating interdisciplinary achievement.
Peter W. Williams
Miami University
