Temples for a Modern God

In the decades following World War II, Americans undertook one of the biggest religious building booms in their history, erecting synagogues, churches, cathedrals, chapels, retreat centers, and shrines in unprecedented numbers. While building committees struggled to balance style, cost, theology, and functionality, in the background was a turbulent and shifting landscape where religious and architectural concepts unfolded in new directions. A new generation of theologians, consultants, and clergy embraced liturgy and sought to adapt ancient traditions to contemporary daily life. Architecturally, a civil war between revival styles and modernism reached its climax, while companies that specialized in everything from roof construction to food service worked to meet changing tastes. As the 1950s gave way to the 1960s, organizations from the Church Architectural Guild of America to the National Council of Churches to the figures connected to Vatican II’s reforms tried to maintain a hold on the changes taking place around them, while new groups and approaches started redefining the very nature of American religion in directions few anticipated. It was one of the most dynamic periods in the history of religious architecture, one that has molded the role and look of houses of worship ever since.

Art · Archaeology and Historical Studies · History · Islamic Studies and History · Religion, Society, and Development · 20th century · Church architecture · united states

• When Bricks Matter

  Robert Brenneman, Brian J Miller•Sociology of Religion•2016

  Add to list

• Protestant Theologies and the Problem of Sacred Space

  Open Access•Jeanne Halgren Kilde•Actas de Arquitectura Religiosa…•2017

  Add to list