# Confessional Church architecture: scholarly/historical perspective.



## Captain Picard (May 4, 2015)

Mods, feel free to move this is if it's in the wrong place, scanned the options, and picked one.

For those who don't know, my testimony includes a relatively recent shift to the Gospel of Grace after a three-year stint in Romanism. One of the things that drew my younger, stupider self was a conviction that the liturgical, artistic and architectural forms of Rome held more aesthetic appeal than the consumer temples of the emergent scene (in a twist of faith, I am a member of a rather...contemporary church now) or (what I perceived as) the uncomfortable and drab "picture-free museums" of those reformed iconoclasts.

This is not a thread about imagery of persons of the Trinity or iconography, but rather the permissible bounds of church architecture in the confessional tradition. Did the Reformers speak on it? Or the Puritan divines? Sort of curious particular whether specific architectural styles or devices were employed or condemned.


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## Peairtach (May 4, 2015)

You can have a "nice-looking" church building and interior without contravening the RPW.

I don't know what our Reformed and Puritan forefathers said about it, but having ugly or attractive decor probably came under circumstances of worship and generic worship:


> So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (I Corinthians 10:31, ESV)


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## Cymro (May 4, 2015)

I believe the Puritans, certainly the later ones, were persuaded of the simplicity of the meeting house.
They did not want to detract from the spiritual ambience that worship in spirit and truth produced. Hence
no stained windows etc to steal the attention of the worshippers. The simplicity of worship was matched
by the plainness of the building. It is interesting that in the late nineteenth century, when non conformity
became more acceptable and the congregations got richer, that they added spires and ornate decorations
in imitation of what their founding fathers left.


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## Hamalas (May 4, 2015)

Hopefully I'll be able to respond more fully later, but it would be worth checking out Stephen Wolfe's contributions over at _Reformation 500_; you can find two of his articles here: https://reformation500.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/reformed-aesthetics-introduction/ & here https://reformation500.wordpress.co...for-a-reformed-theology-of-public-aesthetics/

I've also written generally on the topic of aesthetics here: https://befranksblog.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/cultivating-aesthetic-literacy/ and here: https://befranksblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/04/aesthetic-conversations/ 

Hopefully there is something there that might help stimulate your own thinking!


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## yeutter (May 5, 2015)

My father talked about Romanesque Roman Catholic Kirche in Bavaria with alters that distracted one from worship. My father also talked about walking into the Grossmunster Kirche in Zurich. Though it was a Romanesque structure it had been stripped of all the distractions to worship. He described the atmosphere as austere and worshipful.


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