Architecture in Communion: Implementing the Second Vatican Council through Liturgy and Architecture
By Steven J. Schloeder
San Francisco, Ignatius Press 1998
Architecture in Communion is an indispensable book for parishes looking to build new or to renovate their existing church. It is written to serve as a common bridge between architects, pastors, and building committee members so that everyone has the tools and understanding needed to ensure a thoroughly successful and responsible Catholic church building.
“This vision, then, is the heart and purpose of this book: to find appropriate arrangements and considerations for church building that are infused with the true spirit of the Second Vatican Council. Our goal is to enliven the parish community-which is the true Church built of living stones in Christ-with a material church building designed to serve and further the primary vocation to become a community of love, which must mean a people of sacrifice and redemption.” – from the Introduction, Architecture in Communion, pp. 11-12.
“Steven Schloeder’s visionary yet practical study shows how the liturgy can have a physical setting worthy of itself in a space but speaks of eternity. I would like every church architect, artist, and pastor to possess a copy of this book.” – Rev. Aidan Nichols OP
“Everyone involved in the building or restoration of churches should read Architecture in Communion.” – Richard John Neuhaus in First Things, (June / July 2002): p. 73.
L’Architettura del Corpo Mistico : Progettare chiese secondo il Concilio Vaticano II
By Steven J. Schloeder
Editrice L’Epos, Palermo Italy 2005
Architecture in Communion has been translated into Italian as L’Architettura del Corpo Mistico (“The Architecture of the Mystical Body”), published by Editrice L’Epos in Palermo.
“Guida a una rinnovata architettura dell’edificio sacro come “Corpo Mistico”, stilata sulla base dei dettami del Concilio Vaticano Secondo.”
Il dottore Schloeder (1960), Ph.D. in Teologia a Berkeley, Master in Architettura all’Universita` di Bath, Bachelor in Architettura alla Arizona State University, e` membro del National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Fondatore di Liturgical Environs, studio di architettura specializzato in progetti legati alla Chiesa Cattolica, vanta numerose realizzazioni in tutti gli Stati Uniti.
What Happened to Church Architecture?
By Steven J Schloeder
Second Spring in Catholic World Report, March 1995.
©1995 Catholic World Report and Steven Schloeder
This groundbreaking article sparked the debate and set the terms for subsequent discussions regarding the future of authentic Catholic architecture, and first proposed a third way between the banality of modernist church architecture and the reactionary regression to historical stylism.
Heaven Wedded to Earth: Thinking About Sacramental Architecture
By Steven J Schloeder
Ministry and Liturgy 34.4 (May 2007)
©2007 Resource Publications and Steven Schloeder
The Catholic understanding of the church building as a “sacramental” is intended to assist us in our participation of the heavenly reality of the Mass. The historical expressions of this — the various “styles” of architecture — are founded on primary human experiences which also form the basis for the scriptural metaphors of the Church. Today as we seek to recover authentically Catholic architecture, these ideas can continue both to inspire contemporary architects and to move the hearts and minds of the faithful, responding to the growing desire to once again build churches that move beyond the functional, beyond the stylistic, to a truly sacramental architecture.
Sacramental Architecture: Body, Temple, City
By Steven J Schloeder
Faith and Form 36.3 (Fall 2003)
©2003 Faith and Form and Steven Schloeder
A concise explanation of Schloeder’s theory of “sacramental architecture” as an antidote to the functionalism of the 20th century that spawned so many meaningless, ugly, and strange Catholic churches.
A Return to Humane Architecture
by Steven Schloeder
from The Intercollegiate Review (Fall 1998)
©1998 Intercollegiate Studies Institute and Steven Schloeder
Schloeder argues that the current trends toward architectural deconstruction are built on faulty anthropology, and that the recovery of a truly humane architecture requires first the recovery of the dignity of the human person.
Church Building:
St. Therese Church, Collinsville OK
By Karen Walker
Church Building 74 (March – April 2002).
©2003 Gabriel Communication, LTD and Karen Walker
In depth review of the Parish Church and Diocesan Shrine of Saint Therese in Collinsville, OK, from a major English language journal of ecclesiastical architecture.
Nexus: A Journal of Opinion
From Mission to Mishmash: How Modernism has failed Sacred Architecture
By Steven J. Schloeder
Nexus 6:1(Spring 2001): 67-74.
©2001 Chapman University School of Law and Steven J. Schloeder
In celebration of the Sesquicentennial of California Statehood, Steven Schloeder was invited by Claremont Institute to participate in the conference “Democracy in California”, held at Claremont McKenna College on 26-27 October 2000.
In “From Mission to Mishmash” Schloeder examines the history of sacred and secular architecture in California, and demonstrates how the Mission Style which developed in California was positively used to promote the marketing of the state — effectively the secular concerns adopted an essentially religious architectural vocabulary to its benefit — while religious architecture adopted secular architectural principles and values to its detriment.
Faith and Form:
Parish Church and Diocesan Shrine of St. Therese, Collinsville OK
Faith and Form (Nov 2003)
©2003 Faith and Form and Steven Schloeder
Short review of the new church in Collinsville OK, from the AIA journal of the Interfaith Forum of Religion, Art, and Architecture.
Back to the Drawing Board: Rethinking Church Architecture
By Steven Schloeder
Crisis 18.2 (February 2000)
©1999 The Morley Institute and Steven Schloeder
As the US Bishops worked to redraft Built of Living Stones to replace the problematic 1978 Environment and Art in Catholic Worship, this timely article sought to supply the US Bishops with the proper architectural principles from which to construct an adequate and authentic Catholic theory of sacred architecture.
Rudolf Schwarz and His Reception in America
By Steven J. Schloeder
Das Münster, 1/2011: 47-52
©2011 Das Münster and Steven Schloeder
Rudolf Schwarz was a significant figure in the mid century German Liturgical Movement due to his close association with Fr. Romano Guardini. While he was virtually unknown in the United States until the end of his life, Fr. H.A. Reinhold championed both his architectural theory and style, and Schwarz did have a demonstrable impact on Catholic church architecture among liturgical progressives and Catholic church architects from the 1950s onward.
The Myth of the Domus Ecclesiae
By Steven Schloeder
Sacred Architecture, Issue 21 (2012)
©2012 Institute for Sacred Architecture and Steven J Schloeder
One of the justifications for changes in church architecture during the mid 20th century, from grand and formal urban scaled churches to casual and residential scaled buildings, was the notion that large, formal and purpose built churches were a late development from the age of Constantine. In order to emulate the authentic liturgical spirit of the primitive Church, liturgists argued that contemporary churches should more resemble the domestic “house churches” used in early Christianity. This article examines the presuppositions of the mid century Liturgical Movement and the textual evidence from the early Church.
Per Lumina Vera ad Verum Lumen (“Through these truly shining lights toward the True Light”)
The Anagogical Intention of Abbot Suger
By Steven Schloeder
in “Symmeikta: Collection of Papers Dedicated to the 40th Anniversary of the Institute for Art History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade”
©2012 Institute for Art History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade and Steven J Schloeder.
This academic paper critically reexamines the conventional interpretation of the inscription on the bronze doors at St-Denis, and proposes to frame the inscription in the context of the influence Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite on medieval theology and spirituality.
Review of The Religious Imagination in Modern and Contemporary Architecture by Hedjuk and Williamson
By Steven Schloeder
Faith & Form, Vol. XLV, No. 1 (2012): 33.
©2012 Faith & Form and Steven Schloeder
An anthology of essays focused on the power of the religious imagination in 20th century architectural theory and criticism.
Review of The Quotable Newman by Dave Armstrong
By Steven Schloeder
The Sacred Landscape: Reflections of a Catholic Architect blog
March 7, 2013
“The life of John Henry Newman is a life pertinent to our own age: the present day contentions between Protestants and Catholics, and the general hostility of the secular world to Christianity, are in many ways paralleled to that of mid-19th century England . . . To see the way Newman navigated these treacherous waters can be instructive for us today.”
If this be ordinary… Review of Geometry of Love by Margaret Visser
By Steven Schloeder
The University Bookman 42.2 (Summer 2002)
©2002 The University Bookman and Steven Schloeder
Book review of Margaret Visser’s Geometry of Love: Space, time, mystery, and meaning in an ordinary church (New York: North Point Press 2000).