Rebuilding the Church on a New Foundation
Foreword by Herbert O'Driscoll
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
240 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 x 0.48 in
- Paperback
- 9781532676369
- Published: January 2020
$32.00 / £28.00 / AU$42.00
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- 9781532676383
- Published: January 2020
$32.00 / £27.99 / AU$46.99
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Vast changes are sweeping over society. We relate to one another in ways unheard of a generation ago, and the church too must change if it is going to continue to serve. We are not the same people for whom Victorian churches were designed, yet that is the way most present-day churches are configured. No wonder we are in trouble. We need to go back to our first-century roots and from there to be born anew. Rebuilding the Church on a New Foundation responds to this need by offering guidance to a congregation that wishes
-to enhance the worship of the church,
-to re-focus its worship space,
-to serve its community, and
-to welcome the stranger.
Here is an exciting and engaging journey, one that will give the church the potential to survive into the next century.
Gerald Robinson, a former architect, has helped many congregations in shaping their worship spaces to support their ministry. He is Adjunct Professor of Theology in the Faculty of Divinity at Trinity College in the University of Toronto, with a doctorate from Leeds University and an M.Arch. from Harvard.
“Our congregation had spent much time reflecting on Liturgical Renewal and the impact it would have on our worship. The issue was resolved when we became aware of Dr. Robinson’s insights regarding space and worship. He demonstrated for us the clear link between liturgical meaning and architectural form. It can truly be said that the concepts presented in this book were the catalyst in our church renovation plans, and we are grateful to God for this visionary in our midst.”
—R. MICHAEL McKINLEY, Rector, St Thomas’ Anglican Church, St. Catharines, Ontario
“Rebuilding the Church on a New Foundation provides creative, imaginative and practical guidance for any community considering ‘how to’ shape its worship space appropriate to its mission and ministry. Out of his own experience as an architect for several churches Gerald Robinson has developed a challenging process for any congregation willing to consider seriously its purpose. I invite you to begin that journey.”
—TERENCE E. FINLAY, archbishop of Toronto
“I got such a thrill out of this book. It gave me a new way of looking at the space in my own house!”
—JANE JACOBS, urban advocate, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities
“Robinson’s book has enlarged my understanding of worship by showing how church buildings can facilitate or constrain liturgy. His detailed analysis of churches in different traditions and countries, with its classification of forms and attitudes to worship, is an essential seminar for anyone preparing to brief an architect for building a new church, or for modifying an existing one.”
—LAWRENCE B. BROWN, professor of psychology, University of New South Wales, Australia
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