PT6920 Church Architecture-Site Visit Vikato Kappo
Final Paper on Church Architecture July 3, 2015
“The Significance of Pulpit in the Church Architectural Settings”
Introduction
The term ‘Church Architecture’ refers to the architectural buildings of the Christian churches and cathedrals, which evolved over two thousand years. The churches have witnessed varied styles of architectural buildings from the early period of the birth of Christianity till today. Some of the most significant church architectural buildings are from the church architectural designs of Byzantium, Romanesque Abbey churches, Gothic Cathedrals, and Renaissance Basilicas. Till today, the architectural building styles of the early church
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The word “Pulpit” is derived from the Latin word “pulpitum” meaning platform or an elevated stand of stone or wood for the preacher or reader to stand on. Pulpit is essentially a place where something important happens in the church. Generally in almost all churches, pulpit is used for preaching, whereas in some churches pulpit is used both for preaching and reading of scripture. In early Christian times, ambo was used for preaching instead of pulpit, and lectern, a speaker’s stand in the church, which means ‘to read’ was used for reading scriptures by laymen, and also used for announcements, and to lead congregation prayers.
Every Christian believes that God speaks to us through the proclamation of his Word; hence, the place where the Word is proclaimed should be one of the focal points in the church. Some argues that it is not essential and necessary to have two places for proclaiming the Word (i.e. pulpit and lectern). In fact, many people prefer to have only one place for proclaiming the Word since having two platforms confuses the congregation and also having lectern and pulpit were often limited to wealthy congregations since many cannot afford it. Robert S. Brightman writes on the pulpit and lectern
Gee defines Discourses as a way of being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes. (Gee 278) I decided to do my paper on The World Overcomers Church because I wanted to learn how a church is considered a discourse community. According to Swale’s there are six characteristics that make up a discourse community. They are common goals, mechanisms of intercommunication among members, participatory mechanisms to provide information and feedback, utilizing one or more genres in communication, a specific lexis, and a threshold level of members with a degree of relevant content and discourse expertise. (Swale 321) I had to go to the church to observe to understand how it is considered a discourse community. The churches goal is to obtain happiness, values, beliefs of ethnic and morals to trust in god and have faith.
One can hear a sermon any day of the week, because there are many preachers out there in the world. Many sermons are retold Bible stories from the Old and New Testaments that tell how our ancestors lived, and teach us life applications of how to glorify God while we are living our lives. For over a thousand years God’s word has been preached by many faithful men who follow Him. However, there were some of those faithful men who used God’s Word and their own improvisation to convict sinners and to put their trust in God. Those times resulted in an era called the Great Awakening of the 18th century and they also put an end to the segregation era of the 20th century. Two of the faithful men during those eras were
lectern in order for the word of god to be heard clearly. On the whole
Much of the architecture in the Romanesque era evolved into Gothic architecture. The Gothic era ran from the 12th century into the 16th century. There wasn’t necessarily a clean break from Romanesque to Gothic styles of architecture, but rather a gradual shift in design. The main characteristics of Gothic architecture are the pointed ribbed vaults and arches, flying buttresses and, in place of solid walls, a cluster of columns. Due to the vertical emphasis of the design, the archways could be redesigned and stretched or pointed. Four main Figure 5 – The depressed arch supported by fan vaulting at King’s College Chapel, England.
Response: “Alan Potter (2014) wrote that John MacArthur warned us that if we lose the biblical foundation while preaching this will lead to the decline of preaching which will contribute to the weakness and worldliness of the church, so for a church to be spiritual healthy, preaching should return to its proper biblical foundation (https://www.linkedin.com). Paul told Timothy that by preaching the Scripture, man and women could be wise for salvation (2 Tim. 3:15 NKJV). They learn the way of salvation through the Bible which the Holy Spirit taught the preacher to use, they should not use their own words dictated by man’s wisdom (1 Corinth. 2: 13
John Swales defines a discourse community as a group of people that has an agreed set of common public goals, ways to communicate with its members, to provide information and feedback, genre(s) that the group may further communicate its goals, lexis, and a threshold level of members (220-2). The group I chose to study St. Luke Church of God in Christ, St. Luke COGIC, bears the qualifications to be a discourse community. Founded in 1925 by Millissis Shannon and her husband Charles with only twelve members, pastoring St. Luke COGIC is Elder E. A. Shannon with over eight hundred members (St. Luke Church of God in Christ). This church is a great church to attend and has several activities, groups, departments, and ministries for any person at any age. Some of them include Sunday School, music, men’s, women’s, youth, children’s, and Bible Study and they all help to reach the community and lead people to Christ. The church’s mission statement states that their purpose is, “to function as a Christian fellowship where the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached and the ordinances and doctrine of the church is taught and administered…” (St. Luke OB). My goal while observing and interviewing people was to figure out how people praise and worship the Lord at St. Luke COGIC on a Sunday.
Religion has always been a part of our identity. Today, the population wander around the world seeing these wonderful churches and religious buildings all around us. The architectural style of the Middle Ages was very prominent: high stone vaults, internal elevations of multiple stories, rounded arches, and thick walls. This was characterized as Romanesque architecture. Suger revolutionized everything. He reworked these ideas and introduced, to the world, what is now known as the Gothic architectural style.
Every religion has its own approach to art and architecture. An assessment between different traditions can offer an illuminating insight into the varying religious outlooks and theologies. Architecture, as well as art, is influenced by a number of forces in society, in the environment, in the psychology of the people who produce it, and in different institutions. It is an expression of inner feelings and beliefs and so naturally is influenced by religion in many societies. Religious architecture is created to experience the sacred, to provide a place into which spiritual energies flow and reflect a sense of the divine. Some
The history of Architecture started long time ago. The nomadic were groups of people whom move from one place to another in order find shelter and food to survive. As they progress, their techniques to survive evolve. The need for a permanent shelter became vital for a better stability of the group. This is the time when the first structures that provided protection appeared. Post and lintel were the first forms of Architecture, that satisficed the basic needs. Architecture evolved to be more sophisticated and fulfill the people’s needs. Consequently, Architecture evolved throughout different periods such as: Ancient architecture, Romanesque, The medieval, Renaissance, Early modern, and the industrial age, Modernism and Contemporary
This remarkable improvement in methods indicates the fresh importation of skills from the East and this applies not merely to England but to all Western Europe at that time (“The Flowering” 88). Into three main phases the development of architecture through the period may be divided. The elements of Gothic style and their gradual elaboration over a period of rather more than a century came first at the opening of the 12th century. After the year 1000 there was a fully coordinated Gothic art particularly marked by the invention of windows with baltracy, Jean d’ Orbais probably used it first at Rheims cathedral during the generation following 1211, why the east end was begun. A century followed with classic poise in which an international architecture reached its peak and produce perfect forms of castle and palace, cathedrals enriched with painting patterned tiles, figure sculpture and stained glass (“The Flowering” 92).
In this essay, I will not only be discussing at the connections between Renaissance architecture and cosmology as well as music, but also the what Renaissance architecture is and how it played a key part in architectural design today. The Renaissance period took place during the early 15th century to early 17th century, the age of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Architects of the time took inspiration from classical Roman architecture. This means it is an analysis of architecture in the ancient world, especially ancient Greece and Rome. What the Renaissance learnt from the Romans has how they used the space, looked at the form and had somewhat accurate measurements. And so, they copied elements and modified it, for example, many columns having a slightly intruded appearance on walls to give decoration to the building. They loved looking at the design and proportions and the mainly thrived in Italy during the early semester. It wasn’t until the latter years where Renaissance architecture started to spread throughout Europe, where many architects were fading from the gothic style previously used. However, large numbers of buildings incorporated a mixture of Renaissance and Gothic styles. A famous building built during the Renaissance period is St Peter’s Basilica, made in Rome, which was designed by many
After Charlemagne’s death in 814, a terrible and dark period of cultural decline and terror ensued. It took a long time for the terror to end and the conquerors of various parts of Charlemagne’s empire to come together and create conditions for peace. With that peace came the Romanesque architecture movement. Now it can be hard to distinguish what exactly Romanesque architecture was
Fire is viewed as destruction by many, but it helped to produce growth in Gothic architecture. Many of Christianity’s beliefs are reflected in different aspects of art. The stained glass and verticality of Gothic churches is a key change from Romanesque style churches. The Gothic church found creative ways to illustrate images of important events in history through tapestry. Even the general shape and design of the Romanesque churches versus Gothic churches show Christians values. The sculptures outside of churches have evolved over time to correspond with Christian’s beliefs of Homo faber. The change in design of Romanesque churches to the new architecture of Gothic style churches shows how Christian’s incorporated their religion into churches. Christianity’s beliefs and values are directly reflected through the changes of architecture and style from Romanesque to Gothic churches along with visual and literary art.
All over the world, people still come to admire the beauty of European cathedrals. Many of the cathedrals are fragile due to age, neglect, pollution, and insufficient funds available to restore these historical and magnificent buildings. Nevertheless, visitors to these architectural masterpieces are fascinated by the design and structure of these churches. The cathedral builders using their own ingenuity, expertise, and limited resources were able to defy the laws of gravity and time. (Icher 30)
The crowning jewel of Mannerist Architecture is Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. This great structure is the out come of a series of classical revival styles that were established and developed during this course in history. This was a time where famous architects like Brunelleschi and Michelangelo were pushing boundaries and testing new waters. Architecture of the time was seeking to express the culture and religion through evermore ornamented and magnificent