Among the many rescues made by the Protestant Reformation, and all always as a result of a serious, humble and coherent return to the authority of the scriptures, is the correct appreciation and use of aesthetics and architecture, processes that were not rapid. , but resulted in the application of the Word of God to the lives of believers and the church in due course.
To cite two simple examples: it is not difficult to see how painting changed after the Reformation, giving the proper importance to Creation, as an act of God wise, beautiful and instructive. Suffice it to say that the lighting of an environment? A room, or has a room, for example, stopped coming out of the halo over the head of a biblical or ecclesiastical figure?Window! Or a lamp that hangs from the ceiling.
- Puritans are another interesting example.
- As soon as possible.
- Did the places of worship for the protest begin to be planned?And to teach? To all.
- What a cult is and where its centrality should be: a centralized pulpit.
- An environment well illuminated by natural light and full of simplicity.
- So that nothing distracts the faithful.
- Diverting their attention from the preaching of the Word and of Christ.
- To whom it points.
When these few items come to mind (there are many others that could be mentioned here), do any in particular catch your eye, given that this seems to be the latest fad? Or one of the more recent, because a high turnover rate is the most notable feature of gospel fashion: painting churches in black, turning them into something like a movie theater or theater, there’s at least one reason this calls the Attention:
Apparently the Puritans and the evangelical world today want to draw attention to what happens in front of the service. However, the Puritans were careful to observe church doctrine and realize that worship is an act of the congregation, not a performance attended by an audience. Personally, it is very strange for me to enter an environment like this for a service, in a local church. Not for taste or lighting. I am used to artistic theaters. But when I go to a congregation service at a local church, I expect to see the congregation. Whether in front of me, by my side or behind me, it is the Congregation that adores, adores and proclaims. There is something about the act of the congregation that makes it different from our whole experience throughout the week. Even because the Lord Jesus gave an authority to the gathered church that was not given to individual Christians. I will not ask here the question of motivation: why this arrangement of the “Temple”. They may or may not be good. But are they just theological? or theologically biblical, since all practice in the church is theological, though not always rooted in good theology.
Yes, on October 31st we must continue to rescue. The Reformed Church, always reformed, remains one of the most important rescues of the Reformation, and it is a work that does not end until he returns.