American Sanctuary: Understanding Sacred Spaces

by Louis P. Nelson (Editor)

Overview

This volume examines a diverse set of spaces and buildings seen through
the lens of popular practice and belief to shed light on the complexities of sacred
space in America. Contributors explore how dedication sermons document shifting
understandings of the meetinghouse in early 19th-century Connecticut; the changes in
evangelical church architecture during the same century and what that tells us about
evangelical religious life; the impact of contemporary issues on Catholic church
architecture; the impact of globalization on the construction of traditional sacred
spaces; the urban practice of Jewish space; nature worship and Central Park in New
York; the mezuzah and domestic sacred space; and, finally, the spiritual aspects of
African American yard art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253111968
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	03/14/2006
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Louis P. Nelson is Assistant Professor of Architectural History at the
University of Virginia. He is author of Pulpits, Piety, and Power: Anglican
Architecture and Material Culture in Colonial South Carolina
(forthcoming).

Table of Contents

<FMO>Contents<\>
1. Introduction
Louis P. Nelson
I. Inscription
2. New England Orthodoxy and the
Language of the Sacred Gretchen Buggeln
3. God in Gotham: Architecture and
the Design of Sacred Space in New York's Central Park Paula A. Mohr
4. The
Urban Practice of Jewish Space Jennifer Cousineau
II. Identity
5.
Salvage/Salvation: Recent African American Yard Shows John Beardsley
6.
Spaces for a New Public Presence: The Sri Siva Vishnu and Murugan Temples in
Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Joanne Punzo Waghorne
7. Getting beyond
Gothic: Challenges for Contemporary Catholic Church Architecture Paula M.
Kane
III. Instability
8. Word, Shape, and Image: Anglican
Constructions of the Sacred Louis P. Nelson
9. The Mezuzah: American
Judaism and Constructions of Domestic Sacred Space Erika Meitner
10. Mythic
Pieties of Permanence: Memorial Architecture and the Struggle for Meaning Jeffrey F.
Meyer
IV. Toward a Method
11. Reading Megachurches: Investigating
the Religious and Cultural Work of Church Architecture Jeanne Halgren
Kilde
Select Bibliography
Contributors
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This valuable collection of original essays... [is] readable and well illustrated, and should be eminently teachable in a wide variety of courses.... Recommended." —Choice

"This valuable collection of original essays, edited by Nelson (architectural history, Univ. of Virginia), arose from a conference on the theme of sacred space in the U.S. The component chapters, mostly by younger scholars, cover a broad range of topics, including Puritans and Anglicans in Colonial America, Central Park and the Jewish erub (ritual Sabbath boundary) in New York City, African American yard art, Roman Catholic church design since Vatican II, and contemporary evangelical megachurches. Nelson's introductory essay summarizes recent scholarly debate on the nature and character of sacred space. Though it by no means resolves these issues, it constitutes a stimulating contribution to the discussion, into which several of the contributors enter. An extensive bibliography is also most useful. The essays are readable and well illustrated, and should be eminently teachable in a wide variety of courses. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper—level undergraduates and above; general reader" —P. W. Williams, Miami University, Choice, January 2007

From the Publisher