Content

This unit offers an analysis of the church building as a whole, serving as a functional environment and backdrop for the liturgy. Icons, wall paintings and other furnishings will be discussed in their context, where they serve a common goal of underscoring the meaning of the liturgy.

Unit code: DL2439A

Unit status: Archived (New unit)

Points: 18.0

Unit level: Undergraduate Level 2

Unit discipline: Liturgy

Delivery Mode: Online

Proposing College: St Athanasius College

Show when this unit is running

Learning outcomes

1.

Describe the architectural features of church buildings.

2.

Identify the context of works of art that are often presented in the isolation of a museum vitrine.

3.

Distinguish between the material and immaterial parts of the liturgy and its backdrop.

4.

Discuss the contribution of church architecture and decoration to the liturgy.

Pedagogy

Articles and lecture notes, video lectures and online discussion forums

Indicative Bibliography

  • Atiya, Aziz S. ed. The Coptic Encyclopaedia. Macmillan, 1991
  • Bagnall, Roger S. and Dominic W. Rathbone, Egypt From Alexander to the Copts - An Archaeological and Historical Guide, London: The British Museum Press, 2004.
  • Bagnall, Roger S. Egypt in the Byzantine World, 300-700, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  • Belting, Hans. Likeness and Presence, a History of the Image before the Era of Art, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
  • Doig, Alan. Liturgy and Architecture, from the Early Church to the Middle Ages, Ashgate, 2008. (recommended for purchase)
  • Demus, Otto. Byzantine Mosaic Decoration, Aspects of Monumental Art in Byzantium, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1976.
  • Gabra, Gawdat. Coptic Monasteries: Egypt’s Monastic Art and Architecture. Cairo: American University of Cairo Press, 2002.
  • Gabra, Gawdat and Marianne Eaton-Krauss. The Treasures of Coptic Art: The Coptic Museum and Churches of Old Cairo. Cairo: American University of Cairo Press, 2006
  • Grossmann, Peter, The Triconchoi in Early Christian Churches of Egypt and their Origins in the Architecture of Classical Rome, in: Roma e l’Egitto nell’Antichità Classica 1992, 181-190.
  • Hahn, Johannes e.a. (eds.), From Temple to Church, Destruction and Renewal of Cultic Topography in Late Antiquity, Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2008.
  • Johnson, Scott Fitzgerald ed. The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
  • McKenzie, Judith. The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt. New Haven: Yale University press, 2007
  • Torjesen, Karen and Gawdat Gabra eds. Claremeont Coptic Encyclopaedia. http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/cce
  • White, L. Michael. The Social Origins of Christian Architecture, vol. I: Building God’s House in the Roman World: Architectural Adaptation among Pagans, Jews, and Christians. (Harvard Theological Studies 42), Pennsylvania: Trinity Press, 1996

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Essay

Essay (2500 words)

2500 60.0
Essay

Essay (2000 words)

2000 40.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by John Capper on 1 Nov, 2017

Unit record last updated: 2022-10-11 12:51:17 +1100