Date
4-30-2006
Department
Communication
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Chair
Michael P. Graves
Primary Subject Area
Mass Communications; Religion, General
Keywords
Church, Architecture, Visual Rhetoric, Visual Communication, Sonja K. Foss, Ronald C. Arnett, Narrative, Historicality, Metaphor, Transparency, Symbol
Recommended Citation
Burch, Karen Elizabeth, "Barn Again: A Case Study of Congregational Reformation as Expressed Through the Rhetoric of Church Architecture" (2006). Masters Theses. 109.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/109
Abstract
Understanding the way in which church architecture functions rhetorically to communicate identity formation, monumentality, and meaning was the focus of this study.
Ronald C. Arnett's interpersonal praxis is used as a starting point to understand how the architectural rhetoric of reformation happens. It includes the integration of three concepts: faith narrative, or worldview; historicality, the presence of history in a place; and metaphor, or symbol. I argue that it is through an understanding of an integration of these terms as applied to visual communication that architectural communication can be understood.
Sonja Foss's schema for the evaluation of visual imagery was used to further understanding of the symbolic element of this architecture, but also contributed in some ways to discerning the historicality and faith narrative.
The building analyzed was a church designed by the architectural firm Metz, Thornton, and Smith under the guidance of Connecticut Valley Christ Community Church. The narrative context of the building was explored, followed by identification and evaluation of the architectural elements of the building, then Foss's schema was applied and the functions of the building were judged and conclusions drawn.
