Religion has the intrinsic abilities to both unite and divide, to empower and dis-empower and define wrong vs right. Most importantly it engages people to utterly devote their lives and resources to their God/s and ‘their’ will. In this pluralistic world not all commandments, religious dogmas, social structures, Gods and their peoples are compatible causing Religion to be a significant player within all human conflicts, ancient and contemporary. Therefore this thesis proposes that as Religion is such a large cause and undercurrent of contemporary conflict,it also has the ability to nullify its effect. “Rabbi Hillel was approached by a sceptical man who vowed to convert to Judaism, on one condition: The great rabbi had to teach him the entire Torah in the time that he could stand on one foot. Rabbi Hillel replied, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. That is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary. Go and study it”. This, of course is a version of the ‘Golden Rule’, affirmed in one form or another by every major religion and every recognizable moral philosophy” (Greene , 2013, p. 30) If the golden rule is the religious heart, a common ground should be possible to create. Forming the responsive question; then what is it that causes these rifts and conflict points? No religious, political or social scholar can alone answer this in its entirety. It can be argued that religious-political based conflicts and their subsequent causes/outcomes are due to some extent by the lack of widespread dialogue and pluralist interaction. This phenomena can be in some way negated by specifically that, the encouragement of continuous dialogue and interaction with the OTHER, forming understanding and trust of the OTHER, altering the tribalistic attitudes we see in the present. The architectural intent of sacred and dialogue spaces are strikingly similar. Triggering the proposal of combining a place of worship with a space of negotiation. Thus the architectural response of this Thesis: a multi-faith religious parliament, with the aims to create religious-political dialogue, produce educational material, and encourage interaction within the religiously diverse, all in order to nullify conflict in the present and future. The building will focus on the three Abrahamic religions due to its site placement within Jerusalem. This city perfectly suits the endeavor as it is religiously significant for the proposed religions and continues to be at the heart of their constant conflicts. The building intends to be a fortress of tolerant yet tense religious-politcal dialogue, a beacon of faith in the world. A functional, encompassing, beautifully sacred space for all three Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Alongside informal and formal spaces of dialogue. This building intends to alter the status quo of religious conflict that seems to be accepted as a fact of daily life in this region of the world. A functional, encompassing, beautifully sacred space for all three Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Alongside informal and formal spaces of dialogue. This building intends to alter the status quo of religious conflict that seems to be accepted as a fact of daily life in this region of the world.

Thesis (M Arch)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2009. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Thomas Wood. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-116).

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Light is the most sacred phenomenon and the presence of it in a place of worship is the greatest manifestation of God himself. Man can manufacture all the building materials needed to errect the greatest of structures, but only God can fill it with the light of the sun and make the materials come alive. Through the interplay of light and structure the building can seem to be alive. Through the proper execution of structure and material the building can sculpt light and define the time of day and season of year. This then became the genesis of the project; to sculpt light through natural materials and structure in order to bring glory to the creator and provide a sacred retreat for the weary, a rich interplay of light and material coming together to create a worshipful experience. / Master of Architecture

This thesis evaluates the use of colour and light in four seventeenth-century church interiors in Arbanassi, Bulgaria. The aim is to elucidate the appearance of the wall paintings in these churches in the context of the specific use of colour and in the lighting conditions pertaining when they were painted. The investigation both uses existing methods and also creates new scientifically-based ones to address questions concerning the extent to which colour and light were intentionally employed in ways evidenced by common patterns. The underlying hypothesis is that the decoration can be asserted as an embodiment of the ways colour and light were employed in Eastern Church decoration at that period in the Bulgarian province of the Ottoman Empire. In all the churches examined the artists used palettes restricted to a small but constant number of hues. I discuss how they used light and colour contrast to manipulate the appearance of the images. As present the interiors are lit by electric light. The investigation into the interior lighting reveals that the natural lighting is of an even but low intensity, allowing the artificial lighting to dominate. I devised a methodology to assess the effect of the original interior illumination on the appearance of the naves in the con-text of Professor Chalmers and others in the computer reconstruction of historic sites under their original illumination. By departing from conventional art-historical assessments, without merely accumulating technical data, my research challenges previously accepted presumptions and offers a means of revealing the optical complexity of the interiors. While this provides increased knowledge and understanding of the visual practices employed by the artists, the wider significance of this thesis lies in the way it bridges the existing division between science and the humanities and in its development of new methods for art historical research.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [59]-65).

On the southwestern coast of India, Kerala, with its fortuitous position in the Indian ocean trade network, has served as a beacon for merchant ships since antiquity. As early as the ninth-century, Kerala’s rulers – the Cēras (ca. 800 – 1124) and merchant polities developed a symbiotic relationship that allowed a wealth of diplomatic privileges for traders. Religious leaders who travelled with merchants are named as the benefactors of agreements between the Cēras and the guilds. This dissertation will show that a corollary of this unique trade policy was the canonization of a shared architectural and artistic vocabulary in the region’s religious monuments. Individual chapters dedicated to the architectural style of temples, churches, synagogues, and mosques will examine this syncretism and the idiomatic mode of sacred art and architecture that came to define the Kerala style.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [59]-65).

No description available.

Modern religious architecture is studied and understood inadequately, partly because modernity has been considered antithetical to religious practice and belief, and partly because studies of modern religious architecture have typically sidelined its distinctively religious aspects. Furthermore, would-be interpreters have lacked an adequate interpretive framework for the modern and religious identities that together characterize modern religious architecture. Thus, the problem is rooted both in history and theory: the solution requires 1) an interdisciplinary approach to the historical context of modernity that can properly situate such buildings in architectural and religious terms, and 2) a hermeneutic that is sufficiently rich to address the religious content, yet fluid and modest enough to be fruitful even from outside such theology-laden contexts. As identity is largely a matter of mainstream practice, the historical setting for this research is a significant but non-experimental context: post-WWII Rome. This period is marked by both a multifaceted identity crisis with distinctive political, architectural and theological aspects, and the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) that marked a shift in Catholicism’s attitude towards modernity. The chief interpretive concept offering sufficient richness and fluidity to address modern religious architecture is mediation, relevant to both religious identity (especially on beauty and sacrament) and the identity of modern architecture (especially on ornament). The main interlocutors here are Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88), Karsten Harries (1937-), Oleg Grabar (1929-), and Jacques Maritain (1882-1973). The hermeneutic framework is forged and tested through formal and phenomenological analyses of four post-WWII Catholic churches in Rome that are exemplary of four modes of mediation: 1) San Giovanni Bosco (1952-59), by Gaetano Rapisardi: critique; 2) San Gregorio VII (1959-61), by Paniconi and Pediconi: updating; 3) San Policarpo (1960-67), by Giuseppe Nicolosi: retrieval; 4) Sancta Maria Mater Ecclesiae (1965-70), Luigi Moretti’s unbuilt “Chiesa del Concilio”: invention. These analyses also reveal four distinct forms of ornament — material, tectonic, geometric, and spatial — that are discernible largely through a reconsideration of ornament as defined primarily through its mediating function. The conclusion evaluates the fecundity of the hermeneutic and suggests possibilities for further research. / text