This volume examines a diverse set of spaces and buildings seen through the lens of popular practice and belief to shed light on the complexities of sacred space in America. Contributors explore how dedication sermons document shifting understandings of the meeting house in early 19th-century Connecticut; the changes in evangelical church architecture during the same century and what that tells us about evangelical religious life; the impact of contemporary issues on Catholic church architecture; the impact of globalization on the construction of traditional sacred spaces; the urban practice of Jewish space; nature worship and Central Park in New York; the mezuzah and domestic sacred space; and, finally, the spiritual aspects of African American yard art.
Author(s): Louis P. Nelson
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 296
Cover......Page 1
Table of Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 12
1. Introduction......Page 16
2. New England Orthodoxy and the Language of the Sacred......Page 32
3. God in Gotham......Page 52
4. The Urban Practice of Jewish Space......Page 80
5. Salvage/Salvation: Recent African American Yard Shows......Page 104
6. Spaces for a New Public Presence......Page 118
7. Getting beyond Gothic......Page 143
8. Word, Shape, and Image......Page 172
9. The Mezuzah......Page 197
10. Mythic Pieties of Permanence......Page 218
11. Reading Megachurches......Page 240
Select Bibliography......Page 266
Contributors......Page 284
Index......Page 286
