577 - Protestant Worship and Church Architecture

Protestant Worship and Church Architecture
By James F. White
224 pp. New York, Oxford University Press, 1964. $6.00.

Within little more than a year, church architecture seems to have become a popular subject for publishers, whether it be the translation of André Biéler's slight but important Architecture in Worship or Bruggink and Droppers' large and lavishly illustrated Christ and Architecture. Dr. White's book stands somewhere between the two in size and comprehensiveness, but has its own distinct contribution to make.

In the first chapter Dr. White offers a useful discussion of the difference between what may be called subjective and objective worship. In the first category the author includes much of what has become current fashion in Protestant worship, worship viewed primarily as the imparting of certain feelings to the worshiper. Acknowledging that most

578 - Protestant Worship and Church Architecture

Protestants would not think that worship could be anything else, Dr. White offers a definition of worship as primarily a work done in God's service for which he then proceeds to make a case. This case is basic to the entire book since if worship is merely a matter of personal devotion, architecture really does not matter too much. But if worship be the act of the entire community, then liturgical architecture becomes a question of primary importance.

After pointing out the liturgical and theological significance of a church building and its furnishings, Dr. White goes on to a brief historical survey of the ways in which these problems have been faced at different points in the history of the Christian Church. The chapter entitled "Reformation Experiments" contains, in addition to a discussion of the architecture of the classic denominations of the Reformation, some consideration of the architecture of Methodist and Quaker meeting houses.

One of Dr. White's most original contributions to the field, however, is his chapter entitled "Behind the Current Stalemate" which is in effect a discussion of the history of American church architecture during the nineteenth century. His thesis is that nineteenth century church architecture was completely dominated by two influences, revivalism and romanticism. The first produced the auditorium-type church with a platform for those in charge, while the second produced the Gothic Revival church. Despite the vast difference in ecclesiology, both had the same effect, the creation of a group of spectators (or auditors) who watch (or listen to) a performance staged for their benefit.

It is against the background of this stalemate, as Dr. White calls it, that he discusses some of the architectural experiments both in Europe and in this country which have sought to break out of it. Although these vary widely, the author believes that certain common features have already begun to emerge, such as the altar-table, a more prominent font, and a centrally-planned church which recognizes that the seating of the congregation is just as much liturgical space as the so-called chancel. The concluding chapter discusses such questions as liturgical art, the use of new building materials, the place of the choir, the development of new symbols. An excellent bibliography with separate lists for various traditions is appended.

It is unfortunate that publishing costs have apparently made any form of illustration except diagrams impossible. While the diagrams are simple, they do not communicate Dr. White's meaning as readily as pictures. But this is perhaps a secondary matter. Dr. White's principal contribution is his discussion of nineteenth century developments in this country. It is unfortunate that this discussion could not have been

579 - Protestant Worship and Church Architecture

expanded, even at the cost of some of the discussion of Mediaeval and Reformation patterns. For here is the essential material for a badly needed chapter in a still to be written book-a history of American church architecture. There have been excellent studies on the New England meeting house or the Anglican churches of colonial Virginia. But architectural historians have never treated such genuinely American types as the Gothicized meeting house or the Akron plan seriously. Dr. White has provided the background against which they may been seen in their context.

I do not want to minimize the effective way in which this book fulfills its avowed purpose of exploring the historical and theological considerations essential to building for Protestant worship. But it certainly is more than a handbook of that kind; it represents a real contribution to the history of Protestant Church architecture in America.

Howard G. Hageman
Newark, New Jersey