Building churches ain’t what it used to be
The focus of this post is on Christianity and the situation in Europe. It can possibly be extended, but I’m no expert, anyway. The central point I’d like to express is that I’m wondering, why the Christians don’t build big, fancy churches like they used to. Given today’s possibilities in structural engineering and architecture combined with the knowledge about history it should be a piece of cake to build a second Kölner Dom. There are so many things that would make the endeavor so much more feasible than hundreds of years ago.
Sure, it’s not going to be cheap; nor easy. But on the other hand: if a grand, old church is a sign of admiration of God, then there is not much of this admiration left in today’s bishops. Also, maintaining the old buildings is a challenge that would become even more difficult if new old-fashioned churches were built right now. I assume, those buildings are nightmares in terms of energy-efficiency, but I don’t know for sure. Still, from a theological point of view, this shouldn’t matter. What are scientific findings compared to the power of God, anyway? He would take care of the climate if we just started building majestic churches again.
The bottom line is the surprise that the Christian church seems to be more progressive than might be expected from its cruel, dark scriptures. But I still have the feeling that Christianity without new “old school” church buildings is only a shadow of its former grandeur.