The Basilica of St John Lateran
On this feast of the dedication of St John Lateran, my latest blog post for National Catholic Register asks if there is a God given plan for church buildings
In the Scriptures we are called to be temples of the Holy Spirit, all of us are living stones built up into God’s temple. The church is a temple built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.Is there a theology of architecture? Are there any principles for a Christian church, or can you do what you want? Is Gothic or Romanesque or modern or baroque necessarily any better or worse? In fact, did you know there is a template for the temple in the Old Testament?After all, if the Holy Scriptures are divinely inspired and some of the Holy Scriptures include plans for a temple, then maybe we ought to pay attention. The principles are laid down when God tells the Hebrew people to build first a tabernacle for their desert wanderings and then a temple which follows the same pattern.
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