Featured Article
New Church History Articles
THE CHURCHES of medieval Europe were essentially anonymous. Abbot and artist, builder and craftsman gave of their talents together for the greater glory of God. The Church was His, and there was room in it for all who aspired to work in His name. The results, in parish church as well as great cathedral, remain the chief glories of our cultural heritage, standing also as measure of our loss. With the decline of faith during the Renaissance and the rise of the modern temper, the great church buildings became monuments to an earlier unity, and men created more and more in their own name rather than in His who is the soul of all created things.
In this perspective the cathedral-church of Bryn Athyn is unusual among modern structures. You will search in vain among its stones and glass for the signatures of men. To build worthily for the worship of the Lord was the aim; and the means, neglected for centuries, was found in the planning and fashioning of the work on the site, in a harmonious sphere like that of the Middle Ages but infused with the vision of a new revelation of His Word. The Bryn Athyn Cathedral speaks for itself and of God; but because it is uniquely beautiful and historical in our day, its erection is worthy of record in word and picture.
Such a record was suggested when the foundations were being laid in 1913, while first departures from modern architectural and building practice were contemplated. Raymond Pitcairn, entrusted with the building of the church, hoped to tell its story. His would have been the fitting hand, having accepted the charge with enthusiasm and carried it through with a rare combination of vision and perseverance. But a life devoted to many pursuits, civic and cultural as well as business, precluded his writing this book. Late in a fruitful career he commissioned the work. Some of its chapters he reviewed in draft; but before it was completed, he died in July 1966.
[more]
|
Image of the Moment
New Church History Image Project
This Photograph appears
in the following Albums:
| Image ID: | 198 | | Title: | Raymond and Theodore Pitcairn with a horse in front of Cairnwood | | Source: | Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn Archives, Bryn Athyn, PA | | Date: | circa 1897 | | Medium: | Print | | Description: | Raymond and Theodore Pitcairn posing with a riding horse in front of Cairnwood. |
|
Recent Fun Facts & Announcements
New Church History Fun Facts and General Announcements
 The history of the establishment of New Church groups in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is, at heart, the story of individuals. New Church peop...[more]
 The nineteenth day of June, 1770, is the most significant date in the history of the New Church. It was on this day that the Lord called together the tw...[more]
 On one side of a small medal, a man in Roman dress stops beside a sheer rock face, bearing a lighted torch in his right hand.
[more]  The minutes of the Society for Faith and Charity (a Swedish organization active from 1796 to 1830) are “a perfect gold mine, a big package of New Church History . . . The Society re...[more]
 “I can remember that there was a good sized round pavilion for dancing, picnic tables, and one or two other buildings not as large as the round pavilion. The...[more]
[See All Fun Facts]
|
