scholarly journals Urban and Social Design

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 128-131
Author(s):  
Stephen P. Szutenbach
Keyword(s):  
Sacred Space ◽  
Smart Phone ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
Social Design ◽  
Church Building ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Mystery Of God ◽  
The Church

As first described by Gaudium et Spes, we know the Church's relationship with society should and must evolve. Our moment in history, perhaps, is not as simple as past eras when the Church (the physical edifice and the institution) acted as the axis of both life and culture; churches anchored towns and their public spaces; church bells tolled the order of the day, calling all to toil and prayer alike; the liturgical calendar established the very rhythms of the seasons, and thus life itself. For most modern Westerners, it is no longer so; the Church is far removed from the daily routine. It is the sanctuary where we attend Mass on Sunday, but not much more. For those who have fallen away or have yet to be evangelized, the church building is often nothing more than part of the homogenous fabric that constitutes most urban, suburban and rural cores. The Church no longer dominates culture and society in the way it once did, and it is forced to compete with virtual connectedness for the attentions, affections and devotion of the masses. How often have you seen a person in a beautifully constructed sacred space entirely consumed by the world encapsulated in their smart phone? Have we become so virtually connected that we are paradoxically disconnected from physical drama of the human condition happening all around us? The church does not require more grand architectural gestures, but rather new, more networked and nuanced ways to exist and connect to each other and God in the built world; in other words, new ways to manifest to contemporary women and men “the mystery of God, who is their final destiny.” (Gaudiem et Spes)

Ritual Settings II

2019 ◽  
pp. 61-79
Author(s):  
Robert G. Ousterhout
Keyword(s):  
Sacred Space ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Popular Piety ◽  
Church Building ◽  
Cult Of Saints ◽  
Private Devotion ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Church

How did the church building become sacred space? This chapter examines the second model: sanctity as represented by the presence of relics or the tombs of martyrs and saints. The popularity of the refrigerium in the fourth century provides ample testimony to the attraction of the tombs of saints and martyrs to the early church. And although the official celebrations ad sanctos were terminated by the end of the century, the cult of saints continued, finding an outlet in the practice of pilgrimage and the veneration of relics. While both were accepted customs, neither was officially sanctioned by the church. They may be best understood as manifestations of popular piety or of private devotion, satisfying the spiritual needs of the individual.

What the church betokeneth: Placing the people at the heart of sacred space

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Varnam
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Sacred Space ◽  
Church Architecture ◽  
The People ◽  
Church Building ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Buildings

This chapter examines the debate over the relationship between the church building and its community in orthodox and Lollard texts. The chapter begins with the allegorical reading of church architecture in William of Durandus’s Rationale divinorum officiorum and the Middle English What the Church Betokeneth, in which every member of the community has a designated place in the church. The chapter then discusses Lollard attempts to divorce the building from the people by critiquing costly material churches and their decorations in The Lanterne of Liȝt, Lollard sermons, and Pierce the Ploughman’s Crede. The chapter concludes by examining Dives and Pauper in the context of fifteenth-century investment in the church, both financial and spiritual, and argues that in practice church buildings were at the devotional heart of their communities.

Ritual Settings I

2019 ◽  
pp. 37-59
Author(s):  
Robert G. Ousterhout
Keyword(s):  
Sacred Space ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Regular Part ◽  
Initiation Rite ◽  
Church Building ◽  
The City ◽  
Common Prayer ◽  
The Church

How did the church building become sacred space? Early Christians understood two models of sacred presence. In the first, sanctity was invoked by the congregation coming together in common prayer, an experience that was formalized into the liturgy. In the second, sanctity was represented by the presence of relics or the tombs of martyrs and saints. In Rome, the early churches inside the walls of the city were primarily liturgical; those outside the walls were commemorative, set in relationship to the tombs of martyrs and the surrounding catacombs and cemeteries. Subsequent centuries witnessed a collapsing of the two categories. At the same time, the building vocabulary expanded, with baptisteries serving as symbolic settings for the initiation rite and mausolea offering special settings for privileged burials. By the fifth century, monasticism became a regular part of the Christian landscape.

scholarly journals Massa e minorias, uma única Igreja

2000 ◽  
Vol 60 (237) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Antônio Alves de Melo
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Church Membership ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Concentric Circles ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Masses ◽  
The Church

A Igreja deve ser aberta à massa ou acolher apenas minorias? Esta é a pergunta que inspira o presente artigo. Em resposta a ela, o autor entra numa série de questões; massa e minorias como componentes da condição humana; a acolhida, o espaço e a compreensão histórica para a pertença da massa e das minorias à Igreja; a relatividade da diferença entre o herói, o santo, o gênio e as pessoas comuns; o fundamento desta relatividade na vocação universal à santidade. Da pertença da massa e das minorias à Igreja se origina a figura da Igreja composta de círculos concêntricos a se movimentarem irregularmente em relação ao centro, que é Jesus Cristo presente no Espírito. A pertença à Igreja se dá através de uma grande diversidade de realizações, o que desafia a ação pastoral a uma maior elasticidade e a uma maior criatividade, de modo que massa e minorias sejam atingidas por ela. A pastoral de massa no Brasil requer, de modo particular, a articu-lação entre as redes de comunidades e o catolicismo popular.Abstract: Must the Church be open to the masses or welcome only minori- ties? This question inspires the present article. In oíder to answer it, the Autor addresses a series of subjects: masses and minorities as components of human condition; the welcome, the space and the historical understandingfor the Church membership of masses and minorities; the relativity of the difference between the heroe, the saint, the genius and ordinary people; the rootedness of this relativity in the universal call to holiness. From the Church membership of the masses and minorities arises the image of a Church made up of concentric circles that move irregularly in relation to the center, which is Jesus Christ present in the Holy Spirit. Church membership happens through many different forms; and this challenges the pastoral work to a greater resilience and a greater creativity, so that masses and minorities be attained by this work. The pastoral of masses in Brazil requires particularly an articulation between the networks of communities and popular catholicism.

Daily Routine, Food and Faith. To Yu.F. Samarin’s Thesis on “Formalism” of the Church Life in the Pre-Petrine Period

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 268-279
Author(s):  
Abbot Vitaly Utkin
Keyword(s):  
Daily Routine ◽  
Eating Patterns ◽  
Political Aspect ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Church Life ◽  
The Church

With reference to Yu. F. Samarin’s thesis on “Formalism” of the Church Life in the Pre-Petrine Period, the article examines the issue of the role of fasts, eating patterns and daily routine in general among most radical groups of Old Believers. The author of the article draws the conclusion that such conceptions were rooted in the Pre-Nikon Russian religious (monkish) traditions. The author pays special attention to the social and political aspect of the connection between food and payer for the Tsar in the context of the “spiritual Antichrist” teaching.

Jubilate: a conversation about Prayer Book revision and the language of our prayer

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-26
Author(s):  
Ruth A. Meyers ◽  
Katherine Sonderegger
Keyword(s):  
Human Being ◽  
Prayer Book ◽  
Christ Church ◽  
Material Conditions ◽  
Mystery Of God ◽  
The Church

These essays were presented at the Jubilate conference at Christ Church Cathedral in the Diocese of Southern Ohio on 2 November 2019. Meyers urges the expansion of images and metaphors used to speak of the mystery of God in liturgy while not abandoning classical masculine language for God. Expanding our language is essential, she argues, both to speak the truth about God and to uphold the dignity of every human being. Sonderegger contends that masculine language for God is a settled matter in the church and in liturgy, and that this is compatible with a particular vision of Christian feminism, one centered on the material conditions of living women.

Sharing the Burden

2014 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 1014-1018
Author(s):  
Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp
Keyword(s):  
West Coast ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
The West ◽  
Spiritual But Not Religious ◽  
Church Building ◽  
The Church

Last week, sandwiched in between updates on Beyoncé's trip to the West Coast and sighting of the latest super moon, the Huffington Post featured an article by power preacher Lillian Daniels entitled “Spiritual But Not Religious? Please Stop Boring Me.” Daniels lamented her situation on long plane flights, where she had to endure the stories of fellow travelers who, upon finding out she is a minister, confessed their rejection of religious institutions in favor of finding spirituality in sunsets and walks on the beach. Inevitably, they would present their experience to her as a revelation: “Like people who go to church don't see God in the sunset! Like we are these monastic little hermits who never leave the church building. How lucky we are to have these geniuses inform us that God is in nature.” Daniels' article represents a backlash coming from the institutional end of the spectrum, but her plea for loyalty to religion-in-community was met by many who found her (apparently, according to the comments section) insulting, condescending, and close-minded.

scholarly journals Resensi Buku: Liquid Ecclesiology—The Gospel and The Church

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Haleluya Timbo Hutabarat
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Young People ◽  
Church Building ◽  
Interesting Discussion ◽  
The Church ◽  
Spiritual Attitude ◽  
Gospel Narratives

Abstrak Latar belakang masalah buku ini adalah fenomena gereja yang kaku. Menggunakan metode etnography, buku ini merupakan sebuah bahan diskusi yang menarik tentang gereja, anak muda dan budayanya. Penulis menghubungkan budaya (populer), anak muda, dengan narasi Injil untuk menghasilkan apa itu gereja. Ia menawarkan eklesiologi gereja yang lebih cair, adaptif dan responsif terhadap akar-akar budaya sehari-hari yang dihidupi. Bagian-bagian setelahnya berisi diskusi tentang bentuk-bentuk praktis yang sangat memungkinkan dari konsep gereja yang cair. Akhirnya, anjuran sikap mental dan spiritual agar sebuah gereja tetap cair dan freshbagi komunitas di dalam dan di sekitarnya adalah keterbukaan. Buku memperkaya diskusi di ranah eklesiologi, liturgi, pembangunan jemaat, pastoral, budaya populer, dan intergenerasional.   Abstract Rationale background of this book is the solid phenomenon of church. Using ethnography methods, this book is an interesting discussion about the church, young people and its culture. The author associate (popular) culture, young people, with gospel narratives to produce what the church is. He offers a more fluid, adaptive and responsive ecclesiology as the roots of everyday culture of church that is lived. This study also recommends the very practical forms of a liquid church. The final suggestion as a mental and spiritual attitude so that church remains liquid and fresh, is openness. This book shares a rich discourse in the field of ecclesiology, liturgy, church building, pastoral, popular culture, and intergenerational culture.

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