Doig - Liturgy and architecture : from the early church to the Middle Ages

So frequently church buildings are treated as beautiful objects without appreciating why they vary from place to place and century to century, or how they were meant to function in the worship of God. Allan Doig is a sure guide to the drama of Christian liturgy and the ways in which it has shaped the spaces in which it is performed.

Diarmaid MacCulloch, University of Oxford, UK

The most important influences on the form of a building include functions, architectural traditions and innovations, availability of materials, and money. In the case of churches one of the chief functions is housing the liturgy, a subject which, to say the least, is difficult to pin down. Allan Doigs book performs the sterling service of synthesising and analysing great swathes of the disparate research on the subject, producing a clear overview of how the Christian liturgy interacts with architecture from the first century to the sixteenth. It will be greatly welcomed by architectural historians.

Eric Fernie, Courtauld Institute of Art, UK

This is a panoramic survey of Christian church architecture as viewed through the lens of liturgy. It commands both of these complex fields with ease and with welcome attention to political history as well. I know nothing of comparable range and readability.

Richard Pfaff, University of North Carolina, USA

In this book Allan Doig explores the interrelationship of liturgy and architecture from the Early Church to the close of the Middle Ages, taking into account social, economic, technical, theological and artistic factors. These are crucial to a proper understanding of ecclesiastical architecture of all periods, and together their study illuminates the study of liturgy. Buildings and their archaeology are standing indices of human activity, and the whole matrix of meaning they present is highly revealing of the larger meaning of ritual performance within, and movement through, their space. The excavation of the mid-third-century church at Dura Europos in the Syrian desert, the grandeur of Constantines Imperial basilicas, the influence of the great pilgrimage sites, and the marvels of soaring Gothic cathedrals, all come alive in a new way when the space is animated by the liturgy for which they were built. Reviewing the most recent research in the area, and moving the debate forward, this study will be useful to liturgists, clergy, theologians, art and architectural historians, and those interested in the conservation of ecclesiastical structures built for the liturgy.

The Revd Dr Allan Doig is Fellow, Chaplain and Tutor for Graduates at Lady Margaret Hall, and a member of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford.

LITURGY AND ARCHITECTURE

SERIES EDITORS

Dave Leal, Brasenose College, Oxford, UK

Bryan Spinks, Yale Divinity School, USA

Paul Bradshaw, University of Notre Dame, UK and USA

Gregory Woolfenden, St Marys Orthodox Church, USA

Phillip Tovey Ripon College Cuddesdon, UK

The Ashgate Liturgy, Worship and Society series forms an important new library on liturgical theory at a time of great change in the liturgy and much debate concerning traditional and new forms of worship, suitability and use of places of worship, and wider issues concerning interaction of liturgy, worship and contemporary society. Offering a thorough grounding in the historical and theological foundations of liturgy, this series explores and challenges many key issues of worship and liturgical theology, currently in hot debate within academe and within Christian churches worldwide - issues central to the future of the liturgy, to public and private worship, and set to make a significant impact on changing patterns of worship and the place of the church in contemporary society.

Other titles in the series:

Liturgical Space

Christian Worship and Church Buildings in Western Europe 15002000

Nigel Yates

The Baptismal Liturgy of Jerusalem

Fourth- and Fifth-Century Evidence from Palestine, Syria and Egypt

Juliette Day

First Communion

Ritual, Church and Popular Religious Identity

Peter McGrail

Early and Medieval Rituals and Theologies of Baptism

From the New Testament to the Council of Trent

Bryan D. Spinks

Reformation and Modern Rituals and Theologies of Baptism

From Luther to Contemporary Practices

Bryan D. Spinks

Towards Liturgies that Reconcile

Race and Ritual among African-American and European-American Protestants

Scott Haldeman

ALLAN DOIG

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, UK

For Belinda, John, Jamie, and Nick

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