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Professorial Lectures

The Protestant Encounter with Modern Architecture

Gretchen Buggeln, Ph.D. (Department of Christ College)

Twentieth-century architectural modernism revolutionized the way designers, builders, and clients thought about buildings. Modernism’s rationalism, preference for industrial materials, lack of ornament, and negation of tradition presented both material and spiritual challenges for church builders. I will be looking at how Protestants used and adapted modern architecture to reinvigorate their congregations and reposition Christianity in their communities.

Academic year: