From Temple to Meeting House: The Phenomenology and Theology of Places of Worship

Preface
Contents
PART ONE: PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS THE SACRED PLACE AND ITS BIBLICAL VERSIONS
1. Methods of approach
1.1 Different starting points
1.2 Need for a theology of space
1.3 The phenomenological approach
1.4 Phenomenological analysis of sacred space
1.5 The two main types discovered
1.6 Relation between phenomenology and theology
2. The sacred place
2.1 The spatial reference in religious language and worship
2.2 The earliest sacred places
2.3 Their divine origins
2.4 Their four functions
2.4.1 The sacred place as centre
2.4.2 The sacred place as meeting point
2.4.3 The sacred place as microcosm of the heavenly realm
2.4.4 The sacred place as immanent-transcendent presence
3. The temple type
3.1 The temple as centre
3.2 The temple as microcosm
3.3 The temple as meeting point
3.4 The temple as immanent-transcendent presence
3.5 The temple type, or domus dei
3.6 Examples: Syria, China, West Africa, United States
4. The temple in Jerusalem
4.1 Religious inheritance of Solomon's temple
4.2 The divine sanction
4.3 The function as centre
4.4 The function as microcosm
4.5 The function as meeting point
4.6 The function as immanent-transcendent presence
5. The problem of the Jerusalem temple
5.1 Ambivalent attitudes: criticism and support
5.2 Efforts to relieve the tension
5.3 Radical opposition: Nathan
5.4 Radical replacement: the holy community
5.5 Modern discussions: in defence of the temple
5.6 Conclusions
6. New forms: tabernacle and synagogue
6.1 The tabernacle or tent
6.2 The synagogue
6.3 Synagogue and temple
7. The new temple of the New Testament
7.1 The practice of Jesus
7.2 The teaching of Jesus
7.3 The early Church: the temple old and new
7.4 Radical opposition: Stephen
7.5 A theology for the new temple: Paul
7.6 The consensus of thought: Peter, Luke, Hebrews, the Revelation of John
7.7 Conclusions
8. Phenomenological analysis of New Testament contributions
8.1 Divine origin of the new sanctuary
8.2 The new temple
8.2.1 As centre
8.2.2 As meeting point
8.2.3 As microcosm
8.2.4 As immanent-transcendent presence
8.3 The tent of meeting in the New Testament
8.4 The transition from place to person and its symbol
8.5 Non-sacred places of worship: the meeting room
PART TWO: HISTORICAL APPLICATION PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF PLACES OF WORSHIP IN THE SEMITIC RELIGIONS
9. Churches in the early Christian centuries
9.1 Worship in a domestic setting
9.2 Back to the domus dei
9.3 Funerary influences
9.4 The cult of the saints
9.5 Further influences of the temple tradition
9.6 Conclusions
10. A THOUSAND YEARS OF THE DOMUS DEI
10.1 The return of the sacred place
10.2 Churches as sacred buildings
10.2.1 The gradation of sanctity
10.2.2 Symbolism in churches
10.3 Gothic: a new and Christian form?
10.4 The Renaissance: a new theory of church architecture
10.5 Other forms in the Middle Ages
10.6 The Orthodox church of Ethiopia
11. Reformations and their aftermaths
11.1 Protestant statements
11.2 Frustrated insights
11.3 Adapting and transforming the old churches
11.4 Tokens of what might have been
11.5 Other Reformations: left wing and right
12. Advances and retreats
12.1 Developing the Protestant plain style
12.2 The new Anglican tradition
12.3 The Protestant plain style in other areas
12.4 The loss of the domus ecclesiae: the auditorium
12.5 The return of the domus dei: the Gothic Revival
12.5.1 Theories in the Gothic Revival
12.5.2 Gothic Revival symbolism
12.6 The new-old image of a church
12.7 An international pattern
12.7.1 Gothic Revivals in the United States
12.7.2 Across all lands and denominations
12.8 Conclusions
13. The experience of other traditions: Islam
13.1 Islam's ancient temple
13.2 Muhammad's new form
13.3 Return of the temple tradition
13.4 Survival of the original forms
13.5 Homogeneity of mosque history
14. The experience of other traditions: Judaism
14.1 Synagogues in antiquity
14.2 The inconspicuous thousand years
14.3 Persistence of the meeting house: 16th to 18th centuries
14.4 The spatial problem of the synagogue interior
14.5 From meeting house to temple: the variant influence of modern Jewish denominations
14.6 Rediscovering the Jewish norm
Epilogue: The Semitic experience
PART THREE: THEOLOGICAL SYNTHESIS
15. Theological issues in twentieth century church building
15.1 The second great age of church building
15.2 Liturgical revival and current consensus
15.3 The nature of the Church: hierarchies and sanctuaries?
15.4 The structure of worship: word and sacraments
15.5 The purpose of the church building
16. Meeting house and temple in theological perspective
16.1 Are buildings really necessary?
16.2 Are church buildings merely instrumental?
16.3 Derivative holiness by association?
16.4 Representative holiness by sacramental function?
16.5 Critique of sacramental holiness and autonomous witness
16.6 Survival of the numinous house of God
16.7 Temples for civil religion
16.8 Domus dei et ecclesiae?
16.9 The function of the Christian norm
16.10 The practical consequences in the building
17. THE WIDER IMPLICATIONS FOR PHENOMENOLOGY AND THEOLOGY
17.1 The phenomenological and historical procedures
17.2 Procedural assumptions
17.2.1 Religions as authentic phenomena
17.2.2 Religion as universal phenomenon
17.2.3 Religions as both ideal and actual
17.3 Personal stance
17.4 The interaction between phenomenology and theology
17.4.1 Phenomenology's contribution to theology
17.4.2 Consequent theological reworking
17.4.3 Feedback for phenomenological reworking
17.4.4 Beyond phenomenology to commitment
17.5 A theology of other religions
17.5.1 A common language of discourse
17.5.2 Increased self-understanding for Christians
17.5.3 Self-understanding in all religions
17.6 The Christian norm in a theology of religions
17.7 Theological definition of the sacred place
17.7.1 Ontological-Christological definition of temple
17.7.2 The two analogies: models for, and models of
Notes
Indexes
1. Index of subjects
2. Index of churches and chapels, individual
3. Index of mosques and shrines, individual
4. Index of synagogues, individual
5. Index of temples and shrines, individual
6. Index of personal names