How To Read A Church

Churches are far more than houses of prayer - they also tell a rich symbolic story in stone and wood. Look around any Christian place of worship and with a little understanding you can interpret the cultural messages of centuries. Even the hideous gargoyles around the towers and eaves have their tales to tell if you know what to look for. In this handy and intriguing book, Richard Taylor sets out a guide that will make any church visit a more enriching experience. At first glance the book may appear overly simplistic - as for instance when Taylor explains who Jesus and the Virgin Mary were, and reveals that fonts are used for baptisms - but once the elementary stuff is got over we venture into the real heart of an engrossing subject. In lucid but entertaining style Taylor describes the development of ecclesiastical architecture, the hidden meanings behind columns, carved figures, sculpted flowers and the use of various colours, and even how graveyards were laid out in symbolic ways. 'Good' Christians were traditionally buried on the south side of a church. Villains, suicides and ne'er-do-wells had to make do with the north. God might have been all-forgiving, but those who did the burying evidently weren't. Taylor touches upon such topics as the way our ancestors visualised God as a physical being and translated those images into works of art. This truly is 'reading' the past in the most remarkable of ways. The illustrations complement the book superbly, giving examples of the points Taylor makes in his text. A few more photographs would have been welcome, but line drawings throughout make their points adequately enough. Taylor has written a superb book that should give a new interest to people of all ages. (Kirkus UK)