Shapes of Future Church

Sacred spaces…the actual shapes of Church

or

What have buildings got to do with being church

anyway?

Pete Phillips, New Testament Tutor, Cliff College

Shapes of Future Church

“The nature of Christian worship is such that it does not of itself require any particular

architectural setting. It does not centre in a cult object, such as an image, that has to be protected within a shrine. It does not require a large item of liturgical furniture, such as a stone altar, that has to be housed in a special way. It can be and has been celebrated in a dining room, a hospital ward

or an open field. Nevertheless, throughout the centuries, it has had an architectural setting,

which has expressed the Christian understanding of worship. Hence the study of worship

historically cannot be divorced from a knowledge of the buildings in which it was conducted.”

Shapes of Future Church

Plan of a typical Hellenistic Temple, 1st Century AD

Outside view of typical Hellenistic Temple: The Erechtheum, Akropolis, Athens. 421 - 405 BC.

Shapes of Future Church

The building becomes a symbol of what church is

all about

Shapes of Future Church

Plan of GAMLA Synagogue, golan heights, c.60AD

Shapes of Future Church

Synagogue = public gathering or public building?

Shapes of Future Church

Plan of St Peter’s House and church, Capernaum

1st century = black

4th century = hatched

5th century = white

Shapes of Future Church

Plan of a typical Roman domus

Domus Ecclesiae

– the home of the church

The archetypal shape of church is fundamentally domestic

Shapes of Future Church

Plan of a typical Roman domus

T = Taberna (shop), A = Atrium (reception hall), V = Vestibulum

C = Cubiculum (small room), Cu = Culina (kitchen), Ta = Tablinum (study),

Tri = Triclinium (dining room), P = Peristyle (courtyard/garden), E = Exedra (garden room)

Shapes of Future Church

View from the street through the vestibulum to atrium, house of the tragic poet, pompeii

Shapes of Future Church

Plan of dura-europos house church, c.260

Shapes of Future Church

Synagogue = public gathering or public building?

Shapes of Future Church

Plan of basilica in pompeii, c.79AD

Shapes of Future Church

Plan of basilica church, c.440 and to present day

Shapes of Future Church

Plan and interior of martyrium church, c.350

Santa Costanza, Rome,337-351

Shapes of Future Church

Plan and view of porch-church, c.950

St Laurence, Bradford-upon-Avon

Shapes of Future Church

Plan and model of chartres cathedral, c.1200

Shapes of Future Church

Plan of canterbury cathedral, c.1200

Shapes of Future Church

Plan of auditory church, c.1xxx

Shapes of Future Church

Baroque church interiors, c.1700-1800

Shapes of Future Church

preaching house interior, c.1800

Shapes of Future Church

Interior of notre dame de haut, ronchamp, 1956

Shapes of Future Church

Interior of schloss rothenfels, 1928

Shapes of Future Church

Plan of 20th Century domus ecclesiae design

ST MARIA IN DEN BENDEN, 1958

Shapes of Future Church

Megachurch

Cell Church

Seeker Church

Shapes of Future Church

Parallel universe…

Graceway…

Spine…

Bread and breakfast…

Glenbrook community…

Shapes of Future Church

Community shaped

Domus ecclesiae design – old or new!!!

Domus ecclesiae – god’s people at home