How to Read a Church: A Guide to Symbols and Images in Churches and Cathedrals [Paperback]

Richard Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2005

Churches and cathedrals were originally built to be read. They are alive with images and symbols--all of which are packed with meaning. But today few people, from regular visitors to tourists, truly understand the wealth of meaning in what they find there.

How to Read a Church is must reading for anybody who wants to know more about what they see in a church or cathedral. It explores the principal features of churches and what each represents. It also explains: " the significance of church layout " the importance of such details as the use of colors or letters " the identity and significance of people and scenes " the symbolism of animals, plants, colors, numbers, and letters " the meaning of it all

In addition to exploring these brick-and-mortar motifs, the author also reveals fascinating and unexpected details such as how to 'read' the priest and the congregation, and he shows the varied ways that church architecture and appointments reflect the Christian year. From major themes to small but vital details, How to Read a Church will serve as a fascinating guide to the history, meanings, and messages of these beautiful buildings and the treasures they contain.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard Taylor studied English at Cambridge University and Law at London University, and now lives and works as a lawyer in Sheffield, England. He has lectured on Christian symbolism to people of many faiths and those of none. This book was inspired by their enthusiastic reactions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: HiddenSpring (July 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587680300
• ISBN-13: 978-1587680304
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Arts & Photography > Religious

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific resource, March 6, 2007

By 

Rich Leonardi (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Read a Church: A Guide to Symbols and Images in Churches and Cathedrals (Paperback)

Taylor's book is a terrific resource explaining a much misunderstood subject. Churches are indeed designed to be 'read'; to be, in the words of another reviewer, "a feast for the senses." Taylor explains that classical church architecture reflects the understanding that a church is a ship (the word 'nave,' referring to the interior of a church, is from the Latin 'navis' for ship) sailing the faithful to a New Jerusalem, led by their 'captain' priest. Rich eucharistic symbols like the pelican, a bird which feeds its young with its blood, are explained in detail. Were more people to absorb the lessons of this book, we perhaps would see an end to the artless, crude church designs that have dominated over the past 40 years.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interpreting art and architecture, June 5, 2007

By 

Linda Pagliuco "katknit" (CT, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Read a Church: A Guide to Symbols and Images in Churches and Cathedrals (Paperback)

Ever wonder why some saints in paintings and sculpture have square haloes? Why columns have foliate capitals? And what are all those hand signals? Richard Taylor explains in How to Read a Church, written not as a scholastic thesis but as a general guide for lay persons. The basic layout of churches, the number and placement of stained glass windows, the grouping of figures and how to identify who's who - all of this can be helpful in figuring out what the builders and decorative artists were trying to convey to those viewing and appreciating the results of their labors. The book works as a resource, and does not have to be read from cover to cover. Individual chapters, such as that on styles of crosses, can be read separately and perused at leisure. Nice resource.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Informed, well-written, June 6, 2007

By 

T. McLaughlin "Interpretive delirium" (Chatham, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Read a Church: A Guide to Symbols and Images in Churches and Cathedrals (Paperback)

This is a well-written, religiously neutral excursion of the visual symbols and elements of the Christian church, more or less as it exists today and leaning somewhat to the Anglican church. It is not a history of Christian church architecture or symbols through the ages though the author seems to be fairly conversant with the relevant art history. It is no more or less than a brief description of what is behind what you'd see in an English church, with accounts of the lives of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Peter and all the rest, in case you know absolutely nothing.

The charming churches the author is most familiar with are relics, and efforts like this one that may in some way preserve them are good. They, the churches of the past, are as much like America's mega-churches as flowers are like asphalt. I don't know if they have mega-churches in Europe. I don't think so. They, the mega-churches, help us envision the utter banality of the age to come. And what a long way we have traveled since Chartres.

The author is studiously non-evangelistic, which is good, but one feels the absence of faith in or hope for anything beyond the obvious. It is really a rather light-hearted anatomy of Christian churches, lacking soul. If there's no hope of meaningfulness, no hope that these places may convey the possibility of a real inner life, it all seems rather hollow.