Review
"Temples of Grace is a welcome, well-researched, and engagingly written deconstruction of early Protestant churches. Examining the material aspects of the buildings, Buggeln deftly peels back the layers of religious, social, economic, and political meaning she finds embedded in them. The result is at once a compelling analysis of evangelical architecture and religion in the first third of the nineteenth century and an eloquent treatise on the significance of the study of material culture... [An] important contribution to the exploration of church buildings as material culture... Well written and accessible, Buggeln's interdisiplinary examination offers valuable information and approaches to scholars and students of architecture, religion, and culture... A valuable contribution to the ongoing repositioning of religious buildings with cultural studies."--Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
"This superb study will be read with profit by scholars working in the multi-disciplinary field of American studies. More specifically, the value of this work for students of religion lies in its many insights into the correlation between the function of religion (in belief and practice) and the form that it takes (in architecture).--The Journal of Religion
--This text refers to the
Library Binding
edition.
Review
"Gretchen Buggeln has given us an exemplary work in the finest tradition of American Studies in which she eruditely and gracefully combines insights from the realms of architectural, cultural, religious and social history as well as material culture studies. Temples of Grace is a major contribution to our understanding of how the study of the built environment of religion can illuminate an entire era in American history." (Peter W. Williams, author of Houses of God: Region, Religion and Architecture in the United States, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and American Studies, Miami University )
--This text refers to the
Library Binding
edition.
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