Soul Space

About the Book

We worship a Christian God who came down from heaven, made himself human and participated in our humanity alongside us in his birth, life, death and resurrection. Yet every weekend millions of people gather in worship environments across this country that have a body language of performance that communicates "sit back, relax and enjoy the show". It hasn't always been this way; in fact it has only been this way in the relatively recent past 100 years of Christianity. When we started "plugging stuff in" we gradually lost our ability to use all our senses which resulted in these banal modern one-dimensional "concert hall" church spaces. Our soul space was sacrificed to the gods of modernity. What can we relearn from our forebears about this lost art of participation? As it turns out, it's not rocket science but it is rocket art! This book will begin with ministry, transition through philosophy, then research the worship environment and finally view the art and architecture. All this in pursuit of rocket art as we travel through time and space with the "three amigos" of the builders of Chartres Cathedral, the Anasazi of Chaco Canyon New Mexico and Grace Community Church in Indianapolis.

About the Author

Kevin Callahan is an architect, liturgical design consultant and cultural anthropologist specializing in participatory assembly environments with both a Bachelor and Master of Architecture degree. His specialty is in balancing the lessons from the past in prehistoric assembly environments with the high technology of the future.