Theology and Contemporary Sacral Architecture

In the history of church building and the arrangement of its parts, the single greatest change has been a shift of emphasis from the priority of the living ecclesia to the ecclesia as an architectural monument. The priority remained on the community of persons, on the assembly of God's Word, to celebrate with thanksgiving the memorial of Christ's saving death and resurrection and to receive its fruits. The material ecclesia was of importance only inasmuch as it offered a fixed locale for the assembly, and by its physical arrangement of space and furnishings contributed to the proper functioning of the worshiping community. Later centuries were to attach symbolic significance to the church building. The church building can be called symbolical only if, by the arrangement of its parts, it makes clear how the ecclesia, which is the People of God, clergy and the faithful, mystery of the Body of Christ realized in persons, fulfill the various and interrelated actions that constitute its raison d'être. The physical ecclesia must be an expression of the worshiping Church, the "sacrament of unity", as it exists in the world of today in order to transform it.

Keywords: Liturgy; Sacral Architecture; Place of liturgical Worship; Theology