Master of Liberal Arts & Science

MLAS Course Roster

Summer 2007 Course Descriptions

MLAS 260 62

Building(s) for Worship: An Introduction to the Form and Function of Religious Architecture

Professor Robin Jensen (robin.jensen@vanderbilt.edu)
Saturday mornings 9 am–12 noon, June 2–August 4
Buttrick 201

COURSE DESCRIPTION: What are the distinctive features of a building designed for worship? How do different religious traditions understand space as either sacred or profane? Do “houses of God” need to incorporate all three of the ancient values of firmness, commodity, and delight? This course will pose these questions (and others) by examining the intersections of worship traditions, social context, theology, and physical space. Four tours of Nashville churches, temples, and synagogues are planned to offer students opportunities to discuss these questions in actual contexts, and to meet architects, clergy, and religious leaders for whom these questions are everyday realities.

Course Books:

James White, Protestant Worship and Church Architecture: Theological and Historical Considerations (Wipf and Stock, republished, 2003).
Richard Kieckhefer, Theology in Stone: Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Tours:
This course includes four tours (as noted below). These will be facilitated by a mini-bus that will leave from the Divinity School parking lot no later than 8:45 a.m. We will try to return no later than 12:30 p.m. It is important that we keep to a schedule, so please be at the bus in time!

Tentative Schedule:

June 2	Introductory Lecture: Liturgy, A Three-Dimensional Expression of Faith Read (prior to class): White, chapters 1-2 (pp. 3-50) Kieckhefer, Intro. (pp. 3-20)
June 9	A Brief History of Christian Architecture Read (prior to class): White, chapters 3-5 (pp. 51-142)
June 16	How to Analyze a Worship Space: Some Basic Shapes and Elements of Design Read: Kieckhefer, chapters 1-2 (pp. 21-96)
June 23	Tour #1 – Christ Church Cathedral (Episcopal – 8:45), Cathedral of the Incarnation (Catholic – 9:20), Downtown Presbyterian Church (10:15), Belmont United Methodist (11:00), Vine Street Church (Disciples of Christ – 11:45)
June 30	Building for Worship in Different Traditions (Altar, Font, Pulpit) Read: Kieckhefer, chapters 3-4, 96-165, and Robert Ousterhout, “The Holy Space: Architecture and the Liturgy” (handout); LDS tradition (TBA).
July 7	Tour #2 – Corinthian Baptist Church (9:00), First Unitarian Universalist Church (9:45), Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church (10:30), LDS Chapel (11:30)
July 14	Remodeling, Rebuilding, Reinventing: The Ancient and Future Church Read: White, chapters 6-7 (pp. 143-201); Kieckhefer, chapter 8 (pp. 265-292); Anne Loveland and Otis Wheeler, From Meetinghouse to Megachurch (University of Missouri, 2003), chapters 7-9 (on reserve); and Gretchen Buggeln, “Sacred Spaces: Designing America’s Churches, from June, 2004 Christian Century (hand out)
July 21	Tour #3 – Second Presbyterian Church (9:00), Holy Trinity (ELCA) Lutheran Church (10:00), St. Henry’s Catholic Church (10:40), Bellevue Community Church (11:15)
July 28	Sacred Space in Non Christian Traditions Read: George Michell, The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms (University of Chicago Press, 1988); chaps. 4 (pp. 61-76) and 6 (pp. 86-93); Henry Stolzman, Synagogue Architecture in America, chap. 2 (pp. 21-31); J. G. Davies, Temples, Churches, and Mosques, chap., (pp. 118-143)); Joe McCall, “Facing Mecca from Dallas” and Christiane Gruber, “The Form, Meaning, and Versatility of Islamic Architecture” (hand outs from Faith and Form Magazine)
August 4	Tour #4 – The Sri Genesha Temple (9:00), Nashville Islamic Center (10:30), Sherith Israel (12:00)

Assignments:
Three 7-8 page papers. The first is an analysis of a historic place of worship (preferably outside of Nashville – based on research), the second an analysis of an actual worship experience in a particular space (based on participant-observation), and the last a short essay on one aspect or problem addressed by the course readings, lectures, discussions, and/or tours (students will propose these topics to professor for prior approval). All papers due on August 11th (early submissions welcome).

Select Bibliography:

Thomas Barrie, Spiritual Path, Sacred Place: Myth, Ritual and Meaning in Sacred Architecture (Shambhala, 1996).
André Bieler, Architecture in Worship, trans. Odette and Donald Elliott (Westminster Press, 1965).
Louis Bouyer, Liturgy and Architecture (Notre Dame, 1967).
Donald Bruggink and Carl Droppers, When Faith Takes Form (Eerdmans, 1971).
Michael Crosbie, Architecture for the Gods (Watson-Guptill, 2000).
Michael Crosbie, Houses of God (Images, 2007).
J. G. (John Gordon) Davies, The Origin and Development of Early Christian Church Architecture (SCM, 1952).
J. G. (John Gordon) Davies, The Secular Use of Church Buildings (Seabury Press, 1968).
J. G. (John Gordon) Davies, Temples, Churches, and Mosques: A Guide to the Appreciation of Religious Architecture (Pilgrim Press, 1982).
Frédéric Dubuyst, Modern Architecture and Christian Celebration (John Knox Press, 1968).
Judith Dupré and Mario Botta, Churches (Harper Collins, 2001).
Paul Corby Finney, ed. Seeing Beyond the Word: Visual Arts and the Calvinist Tradition (Eerdmans, 1999).
Richard Giles, Re-Pitching the Tent: Reordering the Church Building for Worship and Mission (Liturgical Press, 1999).
Peter Hammond, Liturgy and Architecture (Columbia University Press, 1961).
Peter Hammond, Towards a Church Architecture (London Architectural Press, 1962).
Lindsay Jones, The Hermeneutics of Sacred Architecture: Experience, Interpretation, Comparison (vol. 1) (Harvard University Press, 2000).
Jeanne Halgren Kilde, When Church Became Theatre: The Transformation of Evangelical Architecture and Worship in Nineteenth-Century America (Oxford University Press, 2002).
George Michell, The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms (University of Chicago, 1988).
Edward Norman, The House of God: Church Architecture, Style, and History (Thames and Hudson, 1990).
Michael Rose, Ugly as Sin: Why they Changed our Churches from Sacred Places to Meeting Spaces and How We Can Change Them Back Again (Sophia Institute, 2001).
Steven J. Schloeder, Architecture in Communion (Ignatius Press, 1998).
Rudolph Schwarz, The Church Incarnate: The Sacred Function of Architecture. Trans. Cynthia Harris (Regnery, 1958).
Kevin Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred: Theological Foundations of Christian Architecture (Continuum, 2005).
Edward Sovik, Architecture for Worship (Augsburg, 1973).
Henry Stolzman, Synagogue Architecture in America (Images, 2007).
Richard Taylor, How to Read a Church: A Guide to Symbols and Images in Churches and Cathedrals (Paulist Press/Hidden Spring, 2003).
Paul Tillich, On Art and Architecture, ed. John Dillenberger and Jane Dillenberger (Crossroad, 1987).
Mark A. Torgerson, An Architecture of Immanence: Architecture for Worship and Ministry Today (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2007).
Harold Turner, From Temple to Meetinghouse: The Phenomenology and Theology of Places of Worship (Mouton, 1979).
Margaret Visser, The Geometry of Love (Harper/Perennial, 2000).
Richard S. Vosko, God’s House is Our House: Re-imagining the Environment for Worship (Liturgical Press, 2007).
L. Michael White, The Social Origins of Christian Architecture, vols. 1-2 (Trinity Press International, 1997).
John Wilkinson, From Synagogue to Church: The Traditional Design: Its Beginning, Its Definition, Its End (Routledge, 2002).
Peter Williams, Houses of God: Region, Religion, and Architecture in the United States (University of Illinois, 1997).

COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Professor Robin Jensen is the Luce Chancellor’s Professor of the History of Art and Worship in the Divinity School at Vanderbilt. Robin Jensen's undergraduate emphasis on theatre arts and her subsequent professional training as a visual artist stimulated her interest in integrating the history of visual art and architecture with the study of worship and liturgy. Her historical research concentrates on Christian practices and non-textual expressions of the faith of the early Church. She has authored several books including, Understanding Early Christian Art; Face to Face: The Image of God in Early Christian Art and Theology, and The Art and Architecture of Ancient Christian Baptism; several articles including “Pilate as Christian Hero,” and “Jesus’ Two Faces;” She has contributed to numerous multi-authored volumes, video tapes, conference papers and proceedings. Jensen has traveled to Italy, France, Switzerland, the Middle East, and North Africa for research and teaching excursions. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Concordia College, her Master’s degree from Union Theological Seminary, and her Ph.D. from Columbia University.

MLAS 260 63

Religion and Values in the Philosophical Tradition

Professor Michael Hodges
Tuesday 7 pm–10 pm
Furman 109

COURSE DESCRIPTION: It is often supposed that there is an important connection between religion and value. It is of course true that religions have been supporters and defenders of values–that they have been carriers of values but we want to investigate another sort of question–not an historical or sociological one for surely the record here is mixed. Many a war has been fought in the name of this religion or that. People have been killed and are being killed in the name of the faith. Violence in the name of faith has been as much a part of the human condition as has the charity and compassion for which many religions call.

Instead we want to examine what the supposed connection is. Some hold that if there were no God nothing would be really good or right. Some see God as the giver of the moral law, quite literally in Exodus 20 for example. Others have claimed there can be no such connection. Still others have claimed that our obligations to God are even higher than our moral obligations and perhaps even contrary to them. Perhaps the story of Abraham and Isaac exemplifies this form of transcendence. Some claim that the very existence of God is inconsistent with all the terrible things that we see in the world–cancer, hurricanes, famines. Finally some content that our laws in a democratic society should reflect our Juedo-Christian history–in short that religious beliefs should determine at least in part our public policies. We will examine some of these question through a careful reading of major texts from our religious traditions and the history of philosophy.

Schedule of readings:

June 5	Introduction and Exodus 20, Plato “Euthyphro” Nowell-Smith “Morality Secular and Religious”
June 12	C.S Lewis Mere Christianity Mavrodes “Religion and the Queerness of Morality, Walker “Religion Gives Meaning to Life.”
June 19	Freud, The Future of an Illusion
June 26	Russell “A Free Man’s Worship” Kierkegaard Fear and Trembling
July 3	Mark Twain, Letters from Earth Book of Job
July 10	Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
July 17	Leibniz, Hick, Madden and Hare
July 24	First Amendment, Liberal Democracy reading
July 31	Pro religion reading
August 7	James, “The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life. Discussion at my home

Assignments: 3 papers (5 pages) due July 3, 24 and August 7

COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Professor Michael P. Hodges is chair of the Department of Philosophy at Vanderbilt, where he has been a faculty member since 1970. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William & Mary, and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Virginia. He regularly teaches courses in American Philosophy, Wittgenstein, and Philosophy of Religion. Among his many publications are “Faith: Themes from Wittgenstein, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche,” “Religion without Transcendence,” “The Status of Ethical Judgment in Philosophical Investigations,” and “The Ontological Project Considered: The Displacement of Theoretical by Practical Unity.” He has recently co-authored Thinking in the Ruins: Wittgenstein and Santayana on Contingency with Professor John Lachs, also on faculty at Vanderbilt. His current research includes a book on philosophy of education and a series of papers on transcendence.