We Catholics love our Churches. But most of us know very little about architecture or the other elements that a beautiful Church is made of. Most of us don’t even have the vocabulary.
But now there is an answer!!
CMR’s own Denis McNamara, known here as occasional blogger D Mac, has a new book out, just a few weeks old, called “How to Read Churches: A Crash Course in Ecclesiastical Architecture.” You may remember his other book on church architecture, Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy, which had the unusual honor of having testimonials from Scott Hahn and Cardinal Burke, yet still somehow managed to win an award from the Catholic Press Association.
This new book is a pocket-sized paperback full of images and interesting tidbits about church architecture including biblical architectural inspirations, a grammar of styles, and sections on materials, images and liturgical arts. He jokingly calls it “bathroom reading for church architecture.” In any case, it only cost 12 bucks and is a great introduction for someone looking for a start in understanding church architecture.
Interesting, too, is one of the recent reviews of the new book, from Sheridan Road, a magazine for wealthy seculars who live in the posh suburbs north of Chicago:
“Heavenly: It’s a funny thing; take even the most secular amongst us, who haven’t darkened the doors of their own local church, synagogue, or mosque in decades, put them in Europe, and watch them pop in and out of cathedrals, closes, and quaint village churches like so many jumping jacks. It’s as if we feel we haven’t truly experienced England—say, or France—unless we’ve logged the hours within their cloisters. All of which actually makes perfect sense when one considers the fact that Europe—and indeed the world—was literally built around a series of ecclesiastical, architectural bases. Which is why this charming new book, How to Read Churches: A Crash Course in Ecclesiastical Architecture, by Denis McNamara, is the perfect travel companion for anyone looking to have the most cultivated cocktail-party chatter this spring.“
I guess cocktail party chatter about the faith and its architecture is better than nothing.
So, all of us want to know about this stuff but the idea of reading textbooks on the subject is too daunting. This book makes it easy.
C’mon. You know you want to . Buy this book!
May 5, 2011 at 8:26 pm
It is a fabulous book. And small enough to tote along while traveling.
(I'll have to actually look in Sheridan Road – I usually toss it as soon as it comes in. Temptation to envy; temptation to feel superior to those with cars with less than 200,000 miles. That sort of thing.)
May 5, 2011 at 9:11 pm
Does it cover the "modern period" of Church architecture? I would be interested in seeing some sort of discussion of those screw-ups…
May 5, 2011 at 9:39 pm
Hurray! My family has been semi-obsessed with church architecture since going on D Mac's tour of Mundelein Seminary on Family Day last October. The handout we were given on the tour is a bit cumbersome, so it will be great to have a stylish reference book to tote around now that I live in NYC.
May 5, 2011 at 11:20 pm
Astonishing how the author of the review couldn't manage to introduce even the shortest reflection about the fact that not only the architecture, but the entire crappy PC world he lives in wouldn't have been possible without the Church preserving Western civilisation.
I assume his cocktail-party friends are not very enlightened, either.
Mundabor
May 6, 2011 at 12:44 am
Sounds like an interesting book. I'll have to check it out.
May 6, 2011 at 12:48 am
I shared a link with intro to this post on my fb page. Happy to help boost the sales of good reads. 🙂
May 9, 2011 at 2:27 pm
Well, I prefer cocktail party chatter to bathroom reading anyday, so I will buy it on the word of the reviewer rather than on the word of the author!
May 25, 2011 at 4:19 pm
Just added this to my list of things to buy during my next Amazon purchase. Pretty excited about it. 🙂