Best religious building arhitecture books according to redditors
We found 50 Reddit comments discussing the best religious building arhitecture books. We ranked the 21 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
The History of Hell, by Alice Turner, was a great read for me. However, it goes into interpretations and evolution of our perceptions of Hell from every religion, not just the Abrahamic religions.
I know. This is the only one I could find.
I'm not a Christian but I used to be and I still like to read Christian/Jewish history, I'm not sure why. Here's some interesting stuff regarding Christian eschatology.
Judaism had very little to say about any afterlife before the influence of the Greeks. Judaism was a religion for the here-and-now. It helped people deal with the vicissitudes of life in a harsh world. Under the Hasmonian Kings, following Alexander's conquering of the Babylonians that allowed Jews to return to their homeland, Greek ideas influenced Judaism. Prior to that, it was only really good people (like Elijah) who ascended to Heaven and really bad people (like the rich man who wouldn't let the beggar eat scraps from his table) that went to the lake of fire. Also, there was nothing to indicate that it was eternal. Everybody else remained dead until the Messiah would come and bring the Kingdom of God to the Earth. Source
Hell plays a much more central role in Christianity, obviously, since by that time it had been well established. But even in Christianity, Hell didn't always play the role it does today. Part of the reason that Hell became so big in Christianity is that it played well with poor people. Poor communities did not always have access to ordained priests (in early to mid second millennium). So local holy men, for lack of a better phrase, would adopt the role. They relied, however, on their charisma and ability to draw a crowd. Instead of a usual sermon, there were often "morality plays," which are just what you might imagine: a play with a Christian moral. Well the ones about Satan and Hell were a massive draw. Costumes for the Devil were often very scary (employing bear skins, horns, etc). It was basically an early horror film. Some of these would travel as well. The result was that fire and brimstone preaching got an early and strong foothold in the popular imagination, particularly among that of poor people. Source
Okay so
I'll divide this into a few sections, assuming you can only speak English and want books in a somewhat reasonable price range.
Though if you're at uni or have access to a uni library: make the most of it.
Oh yeah before I forget, as a general rule, if you're reading an explanation or exploration of a culture's beliefs or stories, find something written by someone who comes from the actual culture if you can. It's always best as a foreigner to have your first insight being from someone who's grown up with it. Avoid people like Alan Watts like the fucking plague. Though of course actual academics on the mythology and religion generally write quite well about them.
First up, Shintoism.
The perfect primer for Japanese mythology is the oldest book extant in Japan's history: the Kojiki. In English, you really cannot go past the Philippi translation. It is incredibly comprehensive with cross referencing and explaining basically any term you could want to know. Philippi explains the history of the book, the intracies of the language involved, and competing theories regarding contentious points alongside with the translation. The one downside here is that it's rather pricey. The book is out of print due to copyright issues, so you can only really get it for around $100 at the lowest. Still, it's a pretty great resource. A word of warning though, there are a lot of boring chapters in the Kojiki if you're interested in myths. Part of the reason why the Kojiki and the Nihongi were commissioned at the time was to legitimise imperial rule, so you have a lot of chapters that just talk about lineage, connecting the Imperial family back to Amaterasu. "Emperor Steve was born in this year, had six kids with three wives and died. He was succeeded by Emperor Greg." Stuff like that.
If you want something that isn't a primary text and is a little more accessible, The Kami Way is supposed to be quite good. It's very cheap, written by two academics (one from Japan one from the West), and quite short, making it easy to dive into. The one downside is that it's a little old, so its scholarship might not be quite as current as some other books.
Next up, Hinduism.
Hinduism is fucking terrifying to tackle because there is just so much stuff on it. Keep in mind that Hinduism is more a collection of belief systems than one unified belief system, keep in mind that it has an incredibly well preserved written and oral history, keep in mind that it's an offshoot of one of the oldest attested religions on Earth... there's a lot here.
and then you have the five hundred books written by western people about the TRUE way to Awaken Your Chakras
Now two of the most important texts here are the Rig Veda and the Upanishads. The Rig Veda is one of the oldest religious texts in the world, a collection of religious hymns. Until recently, there was no good full translation into English. Sure you can find one on the Sacred Texts website but... it's crap from 19th century England. Scholarship was not the same then as it is now. However, in 2014, an absolutely fantastic resource was completed. It is the full Rig Veda, unabridged, with commentary on every single one of over a thousand hymns. The poetry sings, the commentary is insightful... and it costs 400 american dollars all up. I only got to read these through my university library.
There's a few good Upanishad translations for cheap though. A lot shorter too, normally clocking it at only around 500 pages. I picked one up from Oxford World's Classics. This is pretty essential if you want to understand what the Brahman concept from Digital Devil Saga actually is.
In terms of a general introduction though, probably this book is the best. It's a pretty thorough overview that covers the history of Hinduism from ancient times to today, the mythology of it, etc.
Next, Buddhism.
Buddhism has a similar problem to Hinduism in terms of scope, though somewhat less pronounced, as Buddhism is genuinely just one belief system, separated into sects that are much more comparable to Christianity's variations. You do probably get even more "Namaste Bro" type people with Buddism than you do Hinduism though.
My knowledge here isn't as much up to scratch though, as up til now I've read more about the practice and history of Buddhism as opposed to going in depth about the mythology and cosmology of it all, which I only really know on a very superficial level. I'm trying to change that right now though; it's super interesting to learn what Hindu gods became in the Buddhist belief system, and how they evolved further upon reaching Japan.
If you're looking more into the mythology side of things, don't read something like the Dhammpada, which is a sayings text. Of course it's interconnected, but you'll probably want something a bit more direct.
I'd recommend again going to an academic text rather than straight into the three baskets. And in this case, I'd recommend this book, which I picked up purely because of a certain coincidence and have found very interesting. By framing it around the cosmology of Buddhism, this book naturally leads into talking about Buddhist deities, and other things you're more likely to be interested in, without skimping on explanation about how this connects to the Buddhist belief system.
Finally, Taoism
all i can recommend you here is the tao te ching and the zhuangzi, get them with a good commentary, i don't know enough about other texts that explain taoism to recommend any
That's about what I'd recommend. If anyone wants to suggest any improvements to this list please do!
The first thing to keep in mind that is that Shinto is not similar to the Western sense of a 'religion' at all. There is not good versus evil or right and wrong. It evolved from the patchwork of historic folk rituals of the local communities concerned with bringing about a good harvest or warding off natural disasters. There isn't a Shinto 'Bible' to refer to and there isn't much in the way of 'faith' in something, and certainly no concepts of salvation or a heaven.
The longstanding classic text for Westerners is Shinto: The Kami Way by Prof. Sokyo Ono. This book has been around a long time and is somewhat dry, but it goes through lots of basic definitions and concepts.
If you want to understand the mythology of the kami behind Shinto, find a summarized version of the first few chapters of the Kojiki. This is the Japanese creation myth which also sets up the primary high kami (Izanagi, Izanami, Ookuni-nushi, Susano'o, Amaterasu). Wikipedia has a pretty decent summary, but if you really want to bore yourself, the full original Basil Hall Chamberlain translation from 100+ years ago is online.
More than anything, I personally recommend A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine by Prof. John Nelson. It is an excellent balance of academic and readable, and he explains and frames Shinto in some great phrases. My copy has many earmarks where I've saved some of his fabulous quotes.
And of course, you can ask us here in r/Shinto if you have any specific questions. :)
The early church didn't "make up" the idea of hell, it was already present in Judaism and the nascent Christian sect. What they did was define it more narrowly under Augustine. Look into reading The History of Hell by Alice Turner.
You might find this site useful
Shinto Encyclopedia
A good introductory book which describes the basics of worship is
The Kami Way
Cathedral by David Macauley?
Or if not that, check out his other works.
This one's a good starter.
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/87202
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Edge-Cistercian-Commentarii-Cistercienses/dp/2960064712
Is this not the same book, or is someone on eBay having a right laugh?
Edit: Even more copies in the US...
http://www.abebooks.com/9782960064711/Life-Edge-Cistercian-Abbey-Balmerino-2960064712/plp
This reminds me of the David Macaulay book: Cathedral. It's actually a children's book, not really scientific, but it'll probably tell you everything you want to know. Or watch this PBS version: https://youtu.be/MZpOd2pHiI0
If you're at all interested in the building of Il Duomo di Firenze, I'd highly recommend the book Brunelleschi's Dome
For the lazy.
Treated with acid, yes. Don't know about colours. Here is an early Medieval example. Some discussion of this sword can be seen here. There are also pre-Medieval (e.g., Celtic) examples that appear to have been etched.
I don't know of any stained examples. Some blades were made with steel/iron with varying phosphorus content, which would give enhanced contrast similar to that obtained with nickel alloys. The right choice of acid would stain as well as etch.
Medieval Islamic swords were often etched/stained. The process is described by al-Kindi. I don't know of any Medieval examples with the original surface intact.
I don't know what the bluish modern Pakistani/Indian 15N20 blades are stained with. Indonesian keris blades are traditionally stained with an arsenic compound.
Try reading Masonic Temples: Freemasonry, Ritual Architecture, and Masculine Archetypes for a more indepth investigation.
https://www.amazon.com/Brunelleschis-Dome-Renaissance-Reinvented-Architecture/dp/1620401932
I also highly recommend this book.
Keine Ahnung. Die Marksburg ist ja Naturstein. Je nach Sorte spielt die Verwitterung ein Rolle, genau wie bei Backstein. Kosten und Beschaffung von Zement wird ein Thema gewesen sein.
Backstein war in der Gotik gleich weit verbreitet. In Süddeutschland hatte man schon immer mehr Naturstein, darum gibt's da sicher mehr Substanz aus dem Material. Im Norden hat man dafür länger an Holz festgehalten. Ich hab auf die Schnelle dieses Buch gefunden. Siehe Leseprobe und Inhaltsverzeichnis.
Nach der Gotik hat sich das dann geändert. Es wurde fast überall mehr verputzt, außer im Norden und in Holland. Da wurde dann sogar mehr auf Sichtmauerwerk gesetzt.
Fixed link.
I scrolled down just for this. I have fond memories of a co-worker bringing in a book that explained with illustrations how cathedrals were built. It may have been Macaulay. The most impressive thing to me was the hamster-wheel like lift they used to bring materials up to height.
So is the US really relying on softpower, or hardpower to gets it way?
Not at all ignorant, Roman engineering was indeed lost and forgotten during the Dark ages especially when it came to dome-building. Renaissance architecture in fact specifically developed because there was a deliberate study of the left over ruins to try to figure out what they did. The architect of the Duomo, Filippo Brunelleschi spent years doing so along with his friend Donatello in Rome. It remains a mystery how he learned of the technique of laying bricks upside down so they didn't fall down, it is assumed from traders that made it to Florence from the Middleast. May I suggest you read a great little book on this
https://www.amazon.com/Brunelleschis-Dome-Renaissance-Reinvented-Architecture/dp/1620401932
How much do you want to bet that in 100 years, nay 50 years, your kids will be trying to learn Chinese again?
Read this. Once I saw how the entire myth was fabricated culturally through the centuries, my fear dissipated.
For free overview the wiki and wikivoyage articles should be good enough to print and bring along:
For books try these since they have kindle versions (note: I haven't read them):
For Indonesian travel on a wider perspective I can recommend this:
Also while in Jogja have a visit to the Ullen Sentalu museum too.
I like High Gothic which has lots of good photos; a more academic choice would be Paul Frankl's book on Gothic architecture which is amazing, but very detailed and pretty dry and probably not the most romantic choice unless she's a huge nerd about that sort of thing.
My wife got me Medieval Islamic Swords and Sword Making for valentine's day a couple years back, and it is fantastic. It's mostly primary sources, with some historical and metallurgical commentary where appropriate
I highly recommend it
A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine is a great start for understanding shinto. Another great one is Shinto: The Kami Way. I used both for a capstone paper on Shinto in college, and they were invaluable resources.
Well I studied in the UK, so not sure. However, I did go to Kuwait University one summer and I met with the head of the architecture department. I was spending time there and wanted to study traditional Islamic architecture, and I had a family contact to the department head. Anyway he was surprised and said sorry, we don't have any classes on that. So I asked.. 'well.. what do you teach here?' He responded: 'You know... Corbusier, Alvar Aalto, Frank Lloyd Wright...'
So that's not a good sign.
Regarding architectural trends, my feeling is that the GCC states are going through a phase of tribal modern. My own theory is that in the 50s and 60s, Gulf nations were building in what can be called Islamic Classicism. Iraqi architect Mohamed Makkiya designed Kuwait's Grand Mosque. He used Abbasid and Moorish elements in the design, and he was extremely popular across the new oil-rich states. You see other examples, such as this Islamic centre in Doha. It's based on the 9th century Samarra Mosque in Iraq, and the Ibn Tulun mosque in Cairo from the same century. In general, the architecture of the GCC states was a schizophrenic development - famous foreign architects building straightforward modernist cities and buildings, with local architects following more classical Islamic style.
After a few decades, these states began to exert more focus on their own sovereignty and heritage. So you start to see lots of buildings rejecting Islamic architecture, and basing their design on sand dunes, dhows, pearling, waves, and most of all, malqafs (wind towers), and crenellations. If you visit Kuwait or especially the UAE, you'll see wind towers on everything - shopping malls, garages, gas stations, bridges. Look at Souq Sharq in Kuwait. Of course these aren't real wind towers. Just decorative. In Oman, everything has crenellations. Because Oman is famous for its forts and fortified villages, very similar to Qasbahs and crenellated mosques in the Maghreb and Andalusia (because they were actual military structures). So now everything has to have crenellations. Qatar has gone the same route, just check out the new Ministry of Interior building. I'm not sure whether the famous Qatari forts are even Qatari, or whether they are Ottoman built.. but whatever. The point is that each state is exerting its own style evoking a patriotic national bedouin past. Kuwait's parliament building was designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon, and is one of the earliest examples of this in my opinion. It's based on the bedouin tent.
In terms of domestic architecture, traditional Arabic-Islamic design is non-existent. The building regulations and codes don't allow for the density needed for vernacular architecture of the region, and the masterplans that created the codes were all done by European, mainly British, architects.
In terms of sources, it depends on what your main interest is. I mainly used academic papers, because the topic of urban transformation of the GCC isn't well researched at all. There are a few interesting academics writing about the tragedy of urbanism in the GCC. Like Saleh al-Hathloul, Ashraf Salama, Yasser Mahgoub, and Fadl al-Buainain. I relied heavily on the Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, and the now defunct Mimar magazine and Muqarnas journal.
This is an excellent book by a Tunisian author, but it's very dry and academic, and the pictures all black and white, so not sure that's what you're looking for.
Arts and Crafts of the Islamic Lands is an excellent book. It covers geometry and calligraphy and has lots of instructional stuff. Not really about architecture.
Contemporary Architecture In the Arab States is a classic. It looks at the best MENA architecture from the 70s to the 90s. Doesn't talk about urbanism though.
The book I linked to previously, Kuwait Transformed, by Farah al-Nakib, is a great book, but focuses entirely on Kuwait.
This is an absolutely fantastic book, but I could only find it at the uni library. It's a collection of research papers from a conference in the 1980s. I even contacted the organization in SAudi to try to find out if they have any copies i could get, but predictably, didn't get a response.
If you're interested in regular traditional architecture of the MENA region, with some nice pictures (hand sketches), that covers each country, then this is absolutely fantastic.
I could go on forever with these sources, but I think mine may be too specific for your interest. Something like this or this cover general Islamic architecture well, but they focus always on mosques and monuments. That's why I really enjoy Raguette's book, because it focuses on domestic and vernacular architecture.
Sorry for the long rambly reply.
> I'm just saying you're not giving me any sort of reason or evidence.
Alright. Well, Shinto is a religion that I will admit is very minimalist on its own - hence why its often combined with other religions. Some examples besides Buddhism of what is combined with it include Confucianism, and Taoism.
I spoke to my friend today and he suggested this book will give you a brief overview - of course from the POV of the author: http://www.amazon.com/Shinto-Kami-Way-Sokyo-Ph-D/dp/0804835578
Beyond that, you'll need to look into various oral Shinto texts transcribed into Japanese and then translated to English online.
>Isn't this just cherry picking ?
Because of a lack of a general body or canon of texts there are many variations among Shintoist believers. Going to Japan today you'd be hard pressed to find someone who believes the creation myth of Shintoism.
>Could you ask for me at your temple
Because I live in the US I don't have the equivalent of a church or a temple - but in Japanese the term would be jinja - for shrine.
>Cheers for all the explanation and patience, I would think my ignorance of the topic is annoying !
Not at all, happy to discuss.
Hell Yes!
Unbuilding
City
Underground
Castle
Pyramid
Mill
Cathedral
Mosque
David Macaulay is the MAN. I
loved these books when I was a kidlove these books!What they rebuilt is called "The Minbar of Saladin",
>Made of 16,000 pieces of intricately carved wood, adorned with ivory and ebony, it was widely acknowledged as a pinnacle of Islamic design and woodcarving.
>This book on the Minbar’s reconstruction tells of the quest to fathom the principles of Islamic sacred geometry and to decipher how the Minbar’s complex patterns were created. This was followed by a worldwide search for materials and for craftsmen who still possessed the necessary skills—skills that had seemed lost in today’s world of mass production and modern technology.
This comes from the summary of a book about it that I have not read.
edit: formating
Honestly I'm super suspicious of anything written about Japan that's not in Japanese. Everything tends to get this hyper mystical filter laid over it, because it's easy to sell people books and articles that portray Japanese people as Super Deep and Wise but Incomprehensibly Weird.
Shinto: The Kami Way was written by a Japanese scholar and translated, though, so it looks good. It doesn't seem to delve too deeply into the belief structure, it's more of a sociological look at Shinto. That's probably better, honestly, because there isn't really much in the way of a belief structure there. When I said upthread that Shinto is all about hand washing, I was only like 5% kidding.
If you can read it, then an introductory book written for a Japanese audience like Why Can't Japanese People Explain Shinto to Foreigners? is probably your best bet.
The short blurb is already a deeper education on Shinto than I ever got in my undergrad history classes:
シントウって何だろう…?
What is Shinto?
●「神道」=「アニミズム」ではない
Shinto is not animism
●戦前に「国家神道」は成立しなかった!?
「State Shinto」 didn't exist before the war!?
●「禊ぎ祓へ」は現代でも通用する
「Purification rituals」are still in common use today
●「日本語」が「英語」ともっとも違う点
The biggest difference between the Japanese and English languages
●神社や神様には「地域らしさ」がある
Shrines and Kami have the characteristics of their locations
●神道の「間」と日本建築の「間」
The gate in Shinto and the gate in Japanese architecture
●日本料理の起源
The origins of Japanese food
●日本のアニメや漫画はなぜ世界を席巻するのか
Why Japan's animation and films are sweeping the globe
●神道の「見える化」と「量子論」etc.
Shinto's 「visualization」 and 「quantum physics」etc.
Thanks for making me think a little more on this! I haven't actually read much on Shinto, I just know what I've absorbed in the eight years I've lived in Japan, so I went and ordered both of those books. I'd also encourage you to look into how Buddhism is really practiced in Japan—it's absolutely nothing like the Steve Jobsian California caricature that's fashionable in the west. A lot more fire and brimstone.
Sounds interesting. Have you mostly been looking at ceramics and porcelain?
I'm doing mine on post- medieval vessel glass from a single site.
And the one I was talking about is not an article but a book. Early Post-medieval vessel glass
Was it this one?
If so, I might pick it up for my reading list next year.
Looks like a great trip to me. The only consideration my be the visit to Pisa. I chose to take a pass based on reading reports that the leaning tower area is very crowded and not actually that interesting. It might be worth a 3rd day in Florence instead. Also, suggested reading before visiting Florence..... Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture There is a tour that you should book in advance that takes you up inside the dome.
43.773157, 11.256953
Brunelleschi's Dome is still the largest unsupported masonry dome in the world, even though it was built in the Renaissance. You can actually climb to the top of the dome and see over all of Florence, just a spectacular view. Probably my favorite place I've ever visited. There's actually a book about how the dome was built that's really interesting.
I was hoping to get the Super Meat Boy bundle, but I like puzzle games, so if there is a different puzzle bundle/game available, that would be awesome as well. Thanks for the giveaway!
Yeah, /u/A_Bus_Fulla_Nunz is correct. Michelangelo had nothing to do with the the dome itself.
I highly recommend the book Brunelleschi's Dome. It will blow your mind how amazing the creation of this cathedral is.
Books,
I have this coffee table book How to Read Churches that is very rudimentary, but also informative.
How to Build a Cathedral is a lot more detailed but also a lot longer.
Kenneth Frampton is one of my personal favorites in terms of modern architectural history.
I would suggest starting out with a book that says a little about a lot, rather than an in-depth book about a particular style or period.
https://www.amazon.com/Cathedrals-Built-Masons-Russell-Herner/dp/076434840X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1KR6GR12RA7YT&keywords=cathedrals+built+by+the+masons&qid=1559041498&s=gateway&sprefix=the+cathedral+built+%2Caps%2C184&sr=8-1
My son is similar though younger. He enjoys books on architecture like the book cathedral
Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction https://www.amazon.com/dp/0395316685/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_SP2MAb9P0DY50
and a recent one on bridges that shows how every different type of bridge in the Portland /Vancouver area was made.
The Big & Awesome Bridges of Portland & Vancouver : A Book for Young Readers and Their Teachers https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978736567/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_DU2MAbYFKBWHB
I have architectural blueprints from a family member that I'm going to let him copy or trace soon.
I give him Lego challenges. Www.dameoftheden.com/block-challenge/
I'm looking forward to seeing him grow, little engineers are fascinating!
I really enjoyed Macaulay's books like Cathedral, but for "The Way Things Work," I'll stick with the old dense version (pre-Macaulay).
Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0395316685/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_22eIDbHCT2QE4
https://www.amazon.com/Gothic-Architecture-University-Pelican-History/dp/0300087993
Just add some eagles.
Same here. There is also a pretty good book called German Gothic Architecture which has a lot of history, illustrations, blue prints, and photographs about how these structures came about and blossomed in Europe.
I'm reading History of Hell for a college class, it's an easy read and pretty comprehensive source.
A History of Hell is a pretty good pop book on the subject. Early Christians had a wide variety of beliefs about this and most everything else. Unfortunately, we have little other than the writings of those in the Catholic/Orthodox line to go by; and they were still divided on this. Tertullian in particular advanced the idea of Hell as eternal, and Augustine pretty much cemented it.