Holy Space
The Church Building as a Sacred Place: Beauty, Transcendence, and the Eternal
by Duncan G. Stroik
Hillenbrand Books, LTP, 2012
(192 pages, $75.00, hardcover)
reviewed by Matthew G. Alderman
Do we need another book on church architecture? The last decade has seen a wealth of new works on the subject, such as Denis McNamara's Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy, How to Read Churches, and Heavenly City, Ethan Anthony's The Architecture of Ralph Adams Cram and His Office, and the Jesuit Anthony Symondson's Sir Ninian Comper. Even the older standards in the field, such as Steven Schloeder's Architecture in Communion, are less than twenty years old. But all bring something unique to the table.
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Matthew G. Alderman is a freelance writer, liturgical artist, and contributor to several blogs, including www.thenewliturgicalmovement.blogspot.com and www.holywhapping.blogspot.com. He was recently named an assistant editor for Dappled Things, an online literary magazine for young Catholic writers. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he lives in Manhattan, where he works in the field of architecture and attends the Catholic Church of Our Saviour.
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