When I was in grade school, kids often came up with impossible choices like "would you rather be deaf or blind". "Neither" would be my choice although that wasn't playing the game. The sense of sight is particularly precious giving us the beauties of nature, the faces of loved ones, great works of art. The list is almost limitless. Did you think I would write about reading? You can read with the sense of touch (braille) or the sense of hearing (stories being told out loud).
Do you know the ancient Indian story of the blind men and the elephant? There are many variations of the story, but basically, it goes like this: A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town. They wanted to learn about this creature so they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". When they found it, the first man touched the elephant's trunk and said, "This creature is like a thick snake". Another one who touched its ear, thought it was like some kind of fan. Another, who touched its leg, said the elephant was like a tree-trunk. The blind man who touched its side said the elephant was a wall. The next man, who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, saying the elephant was hard and smooth like a spear.
Think of what you see in church. If you were born without the sense of sight, you could learn to navigate the space. You could feel textures and get an idea of shapes. You would not experience colors, but two-dimensional paintings could be described to you. Old churches are often highly ornamented with paintings, sculpture, and stained glass. Modern churches can be utilitarian, lacking in beauty, or they can have soaring spaces and stained glass windows as beautiful (in their own way) as the ones in Notre Dame de Paris. A beautiful sanctuary (Plymouth's) is featured in Inspired : churches of Seattle by Rick Grant (280.09797 GRA).
When I was in ninth grade, the Minister of Christian Education at the church I attended taught a year-long class on Church history. That's where I learned about apses, naves, and narthexes. Also about Calvin, Zwingli, Luther, Knox, and Wesley. I think that I remember more from that class than any class I took in school. I've been thinking about those lessons lately as I imagine what Plymouth may look like in the future. This is an exciting time in the life of the Church. There are so many things that architects must consider when designing churches. The sanctuary must be an inspiring space; it must have good acoustics, atmospheric lighting, and sight lines; it must represent the vision of the Church. So much to plan. You may have missed out on the Reverend Don Meekhoff's class on Church History, but here is a mini-course on Church Architecture:
Start with this one: How to read churches: a crash course in ecclesiastical architecture /McNamara, Denis R. 726.51 MCN
And then learn more:
Building the book Cathedral / Macaulay, David. 726.6 MAC
Built to last / Macaulay, David. J 729 MAC
Churches of old New England, their architecture and their architects, their pastors and their people/ Marlowe, George F. 726 MAR
Early churches of Washington State / Pearson, Arnold. 726 PEA
English cathedrals in colour/ Kersting, A.F. 726.60942 KER
English cathedrals/ Hurlimann, Martin, 726.60942 HUR
Modern church architecture; a guide to the form and spirit of 20th century religious buildings/ Christ-Janer, Albert, 726 CHR
Use your sense of sight to enjoy art:
101 Celtic crosses / Davis, Courtney, 731.8482 DAV
Spirit of Chiapas : the expressive art of the roof cross tradition : featuring the Frans Blom collection at Na Bolom / Guess, Virginia Ann, 246.558 GUE
Art and faith in Mexico: the nineteenth-century retablo tradition Zarur/ Elizabeth Netto Calil 789.61 ZAR
Encounters with God : in quest of the ancient icons of Mary / Beckett, Wendy. 704.9 BEC
The Faces of God: 1000 images in art/ Hind, Rebecca 704.9 HIN
The faces of Jesus / Buechner, Frederick, 704.948 BUE
I heard God talking to me : William Edmondson and his stone carvings / Spires, Elizabeth. 811 SPI
Guido di Piero, known as Fra Angelico, ca. 1395-1455 / Bartz, Gabriele, 759 BAR
Leonardo / Leoni Zanobini, Maria Teresa. 709.2 LEO
Leonardo da Vinci / Stanley, Diane. J 709.2 STA
Drawn to the light : poems on Rembrandt's religious paintings / McEntyre, Marilyn Chandler, 813 MCE
Rembrandt and the Bible. : Stories from the Old and New Testament, illus. by Rembrandt in paintings, etchings and drawings / Hoekstra, Hidde. R 759.9 HOE
Rembrandt : see and do children's book / Bie, Ceciel de. J 759.9 BIE
How to read symbols : a crash course in the meaning of symbols in art / Gibson, Clare 302.2223 GIB
Our Christian symbols/ Rest, Friedrich, 246 RES
Christian symbolism in the Evangelical Churches Stafford/ Thomas Albert 704.9482 STA
Signs and symbols in Christian art /Ferguson, George 704.9482 FER
Young readers book of Christian symbolism/ Daves, Michael J 246 DAV
A note on the painting: This painting by the English artist John Hanson Walker has been known in my family as The Blind Ajax. I wanted to learn more about the Greek mythological character, Ajax. There were evidently two: The Great and The Lesser. Neither of them seem to have been The Blind. In any event, the painting wasn't esteemed by the family. My grandfather claimed it was used at a dart board, but that wasn't any more true than the name - there are no holes in it that would have been made by a dart!