Why do churches have steeples?
score:15
Interesting question. I managed to find an article, The History of Church Steeples, that actually addresses this.
One reason: It was simply an architectural style that happens to inspire us to look heavenward.
These early church architects designed grand cathedrals and churches that had intricate, soaring steeples. The vertical lines of the steeple helped to visually enhance the lines of the church, directing the viewers' eyes vertically to the heavens. Obviously, this verticality complements part of the mission of the church, to keep us in a heavenly frame of mind, but from an architectural standpoint, this vertical lift gives the architecture a more graceful and pleasing look. The shorter the building, the more squat the appearance; the taller the building, the more graceful it becomes. The early church believed that the church could communicate the truth of the Bible in pictures and symbols to those who were illiterate, such as using the picture in the stained glass to tell stories, as well as the steeple, which helped by pointing upwards devotedly to Heaven. Therefore, the steeple has a dual role in that it helps the congregant in his or her spiritual mindset, and the steeple also helps the architect with a design feature that enhances the overall harmony of the architecture.
In short, there's no doctrinal significance, or symbolic other than the pointing to the Heavens. It's simply a beautiful style that, once done, was imitated throughout the ages until it became expected.
Upvote:1
The church has always been recognised as a patron of art as it has needed to use art for teaching and inspiring . Stained glass windows often contained depiction of scriptural teachings, and allegorical interpretation lent itself particularly well to this form. Common folk found pictorial depiction easier to understand.
Thus the Samaritan would be depicted as Christ, the wounded man as man under sin's oppression.
The other way art could be used was for inspiration . Cathedrals have been called prayers in stone, depicting the heavenward soaring of men's words.
People entering a place of worship were inspired to believe they were seeing and hearing men praising God through architecture and music. God was the recipient of this worship, and men's energies were used to create forms in a way that reflected this. Conscious effort was made in the soaring interiors and ethereal singing to convey the idea that God was present in all His Majesty.
Compare this with contemporary architecture and music, where the end products have the consumer in view. Churches are patronised because they have comfortable seating, climate control and theatre acoustics, the better to hear words that comfort and beats that stir the feet to tap.
Upvote:4
for the sound of bells to carry over the tops of buildings, the bells had to be higher than surrounding buildings. Bells were used not only before church service, but also to notify people of emergencies, such as fires. The buildings were regularly used as a town meeting place, as well, not like today where they are often locked except on Sunday mornings.
Upvote:5
Because steeples have bells in them
See, they know they need to pray the Angelus because the bell is ringing.
More post
- 📝 Are there any Church traditions or legends that state what species of fish Tobias caught in the Book of Tobit?
- 📝 Does "all have sinned" (Rom. 3:23, 5:12) include every single human being?
- 📝 Worklabor during construction of Solomon's palace?
- 📝 What does it mean for the Spirit to only speak of what he hears? (trinitarian perspective)
- 📝 Remembering vital scriptures?
- 📝 Are Convent Schools only for orphan children?
- 📝 Whose morals are being referenced by NT authors in the expression "sexual immorality"?
- 📝 Has the Catholic Church ever excommunicated someone based on their ideology?
- 📝 Why are the Ammonites excluded instead of the Midianites in Nehemiah 13?
- 📝 Is Eastern Orthodox Christianity against doing yoga or meditation?
- 📝 Catholic Encyclicals/Bulls in Which Jews and Freemasons are Mentioned?
- 📝 According to Reformed Calvinists, are all of a person's volitional states causally determined by prior causes in time?
- 📝 What is the difference between the Trinitarian concept of God and the Mormon concept of God?
- 📝 NT arguments against Feng-Shui
- 📝 What is biblical view on curiosity?
- 📝 What is the technical understanding of the assertion of Jesus dying on the cross?
- 📝 Is a lawfully-constituted civil society divinely-instituted?
- 📝 How does the Catholic church view Freemasons?
- 📝 Soteriology: How does God save free moral agents?
- 📝 What bible translation did the Unitarians use in 19th century America?
- 📝 To understand the "The Bible is the Word of God"
- 📝 What specifically changed about Catholic seminaries in the 20th Century?
- 📝 If Catholics have to be open to new life how can they practice Natural Family Planning?
- 📝 Is there any historical evidence that the early church believed in the divinity of Jesus?
- 📝 Is the Unitarian Universalist Association really creedless?
- 📝 Do any Protestant denominations practice meditative or contemplative prayer?
- 📝 Given that Mormons believe the father has a physical body, what is the significance of the incarnation?
- 📝 What does "gates of hell" mean in Matthew 16:18?
- 📝 How many 'Books' never made it to the Bible (Old and New Testament)?
- 📝 Are there theological explanations for why God allowed ambiguity to exist in Scripture?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why do Catholic churches have a red lamp burning inside?
- 📝 Why do churches have steeples?
- 📝 Why do churches often have altars?
- 📝 Why have some conservative Reformed churches objected to the Belhar Confession?
- 📝 Why do some Christian churches have classes about other churches?
- 📝 Why is it that so many Churches have a problem with Halloween but not with the other pagan holidays?
- 📝 Why don't many churches obey Paul's command that women must be silent in church?
- 📝 Why do many churches use grape juice in communion?
- 📝 Why (how) does Jesus' coat have no seam?
- 📝 Why did Jesus have to leave for the Holy Spirit to come?
- 📝 Why do Kingdom Halls have no windows?
- 📝 Why does Catholicism have priests but Protestantism does not?
- 📝 Why does God have a chosen people?
- 📝 Why does the Messiah have to be God?
- 📝 Why does God command us to have children?
- 📝 How do churches that have indefinitely suspended in-person services understand Hebrews 10:25?
- 📝 Why did the Western and Eastern churches react to their respective states so differently?
- 📝 In light of the fact that Donatism is heresy, why do most churches require a priest to bless the elements?
- 📝 Why does a beheaded saint have the halo above the stump?
- 📝 Why do people die but angels do not, but both have sinned?
- 📝 Why have Ministers and Preachers stopped preaching on Hell?
- 📝 Why do Syrian Orthodox churches use only paintings and not sculptures, unlike Catholic churches?
- 📝 From the perspective of Roman Catholicism, what do Orthodox churches have to do to become "Eastern Catholic Churches"?
- 📝 According to Reformed theology, why does God tell people to repent if they don't have the choice to do so, as in Exodus 10:3?
- 📝 What did Jesus quote Psalm 22: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"
- 📝 Why did the Catholic Church decide to have a Bible?
- 📝 Why does Jesus have to be fully God and fully man? Is it not sufficient to be the son of God and fully man?
- 📝 Why did God not want man to have the knowledge of good and evil?
- 📝 Why do Christians have different books in their Bible?
- 📝 If we will have free will and be sinless in Heaven at the same time, then why did God not create a world with sinless free creatures to begin with?