When Church Became Theatre: The Transformation of Evangelical Architecture and Worship in Nineteenth-Century America

Oxford University Press, USA, January 2005. Paper Back. New. A church congregation issues an appeal for architects to enter a building design competition. Its new sanctuary must accommodate 6,000 people because the well-known senior pastor draws large crowds. The acoustics must be superb, and the preaching platform must include room for a 150-voice choir. A competition like this doesn't sound unusual now, at the beginning of the 21st century; megachurch architecture has been common since the 1980's. But this particular call for building designs appeared in 1859, continuing an established trend away from traditional forms in Evangelical worship. As the title suggests, by the early nineteenth-century Evangelical architecture was already moving toward the pattern of public entertainment venues. New church buildings, modeled from the auditorium and the ampitheatre, both served and propelled a simultaneous change in worship style. Kilde's book examines not only church building, but preaching, music, theology and mission-and she is careful to document the change in how the American church has viewed <i>itself</i> over time. An insightful and creative examination of American religious history. 310 pp.