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date: 19 January 2021

Abstract and Keywords

This article examines the architectural traditions of the world’s religions, with particular emphasis on synagogues, churches, mosques, and Hindu and Buddhist temples. Using a comparative approach, it first describes common and distinguishing features of religious architecture. It then looks at issues and problems that tend to arise in church design, such as whether to aim for monumentality and splendor or rather for simple and modest design; what sort of symbolism to use in the design and decoration of buildings; in what ways architecture can and should be affected by currents of liturgical reform; whether to allow representational art or restrict ornament to non-representational forms; or how much emphasis to place on principles of harmony and mathematical proportion. Finally, it discusses various approaches used in studying church architecture.

Keywords: religions, synagogues, churches, mosques, temples, religious architecture, church design, monumentality, representational art, church architecture

Richard Kieckhefer

Richard Kieckhefer teaches at Northwestern University, in the departments of Religious Studies and History. He works on the religious culture of late medieval Europe, including the history of witchcraft and magic. His publications in this area include European Witch Trials: Their Foundations in Popular and Learned Culture (1976), Magic in the Middle Ages (1989), and Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Handbook of the Fifteenth Century (1997). He also has a long-standing interest in the history of church-building as it relates to late medieval religion and society.

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