Heaven in Stone and Glass

Rating:
Summary: A devotional that uses cathedrals as the metaphor.
Review: Cathedrals are monoliths of faith gone by; sacred geometries that tower above cities and towns throughout Europe. Cathedrals are now major attractions for tourist groups, projects for endless restorations and museums of meditation.

In "Heaven In Stone and Glass", Father Robert Barron (a Catholic priest and professor of theology) has brought together a readable devotional, that combines a heavy dose of fundamental theology with a brief pragmatic explanation of how and why the Great Cathedrals were built as they were.

But be apprized that this text is really a devotional that uses cathedrals as the illustration for Father Barron's homilies. Robert Barron spent years in France and uses the Cathedrals of Notre-Dame and Chartres as his architectural examples, but these cathedrals are applicable to the propensity of cathedrals throughout the world Some readers may quail at the conservative theology that Robert Barron promotes. He states that we must come to grips with the fact that we are sinners "disoriented, lost, desperately in need of a guide". And that the church is the ark of our salivation "as long as we sinners stay in the confines of the church, we will make our way to the light." However, if this is not your spiritual belief, don't take flight, for Robert Barron's writing is as engaging as it is opinionated.

I read this while visiting the great Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway, and I highly recommend that you read it while visiting a Cathedral. This book can add meaning to your next cathedral experience while providing a strong devotional base. It is evident that cathedrals hold stories of salvation to those who can read them as a metaphor. They are "symbolic manifestations of a spiritual universe that cannot be seen" and much more than stone and glass. Robert Barron has written an engaging devotional and useful guide. Recommended

Rating:
Summary: A devotional that uses cathedrals as the metaphor.
Review: Cathedrals are monoliths of faith gone by; sacred geometries that tower above cities and towns throughout Europe. Cathedrals are now major attractions for tourist groups, projects for endless restorations and museums of meditation.

In "Heaven In Stone and Glass", Father Robert Barron (a Catholic priest and professor of theology) has brought together a readable devotional, that combines a heavy dose of fundamental theology with a brief pragmatic explanation of how and why the Great Cathedrals were built as they were.

But be apprized that this text is really a devotional that uses cathedrals as the illustration for Father Barron's homilies. Robert Barron spent years in France and uses the Cathedrals of Notre-Dame and Chartres as his architectural examples, but these cathedrals are applicable to the propensity of cathedrals throughout the world Some readers may quail at the conservative theology that Robert Barron promotes. He states that we must come to grips with the fact that we are sinners "disoriented, lost, desperately in need of a guide". And that the church is the ark of our salivation "as long as we sinners stay in the confines of the church, we will make our way to the light." However, if this is not your spiritual belief, don't take flight, for Robert Barron's writing is as engaging as it is opinionated.

I read this while visiting the great Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway, and I highly recommend that you read it while visiting a Cathedral. This book can add meaning to your next cathedral experience while providing a strong devotional base. It is evident that cathedrals hold stories of salvation to those who can read them as a metaphor. They are "symbolic manifestations of a spiritual universe that cannot be seen" and much more than stone and glass. Robert Barron has written an engaging devotional and useful guide. Recommended

Rating:
Summary: A refreshing meditation
Review: Fr. Barron's book is truly a small gem. Very compact and readable yet extremely spiritual and philosophical, it gets right at the heart of the very essence of the great cathedrals. Simply looking at their form, though very beautiful in itself, is not enough without completely immersing oneself in the mentality and spirit of the people who built them. This rich mentality is in sharp contrast to the agnostic hedonism that resulted from the Enlightenment. As an architecture student, it gives me great hope that, as he points out in the book, we are in an age when people are becoming increasingly interested in spirituality and symbolism and long for a reality deeper than the profane and the mundane. Given the spiritually and architecturally impoverished and overall pathetic nature of most Catholic churches built in the past three decades, this meditation is like a candle in the dark, not only harkening back to a time when everyone knew that God was the center of the universe, but inspiring hope that that time will one day return. In short, this is an excellent book that I recommend to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: A refreshing meditation
Review: Fr. Barron's book is truly a small gem. Very compact and readable yet extremely spiritual and philosophical, it gets right at the heart of the very essence of the great cathedrals. Simply looking at their form, though very beautiful in itself, is not enough without completely immersing oneself in the mentality and spirit of the people who built them. This rich mentality is in sharp contrast to the agnostic hedonism that resulted from the Enlightenment. As an architecture student, it gives me great hope that, as he points out in the book, we are in an age when people are becoming increasingly interested in spirituality and symbolism and long for a reality deeper than the profane and the mundane. Given the spiritually and architecturally impoverished and overall pathetic nature of most Catholic churches built in the past three decades, this meditation is like a candle in the dark, not only harkening back to a time when everyone knew that God was the center of the universe, but inspiring hope that that time will one day return. In short, this is an excellent book that I recommend to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: fortuitous
Review: I am a seminarian where Fr. Barron teaches and have had some of his courses. He is an excellent instructor, pastor, and priest, but more importantly he is one of the best communicators around. He can convey with passion and brevity in two minutes what it would take others twenty; he is exciting and inspiring, chracteristic of a good witness to the faith. I feel blessed to have him as a part of my formation. He tackles theological issues with a fresh and unique perspective. Heaven in Stone and Glass is no exception. Not many books may ever have been written about the distinct (and sorely overlooked) spiritual dimensions that Gothic cathedrals convey. Joseph Campbell, in The Power of Myth, once said that while in France, Chartres Cathedral is his sacrament; it puts him in touch with the Divine like nothing else. That is the point of Gothic; to make you awestruck, humble and kneeling before the Almighty. Travel to any cathedral in Europe or Washington National Cathedral in D.C. and you immediately understand; it is the numinous, the religious feeling, the experiential wonder of which Schleiermacher wrote; it is the Mysterium Tremendum of which Otto wrote. It is to make you feel like a child before God; small and lost in praise walking in the lofty, incense-filled rarified interiors of these cathedrals. It is to put us in our place before the grandeur of God like no other. It could be argued that this is what true religious experience is, of which Gothic cathedrals afford us. Perhaps that is what, in part, Jesus meant when He said we had to become child-like unto the Lord. That is the point of Gothic. This is what Bob Barron was on to. This could come in very handy as we continue to deal with the loss of the sacred in general in the modern world as well as the inexplicably bad taste in music, art, liturgy, and architecture that is prevalent in too many of our churches, that has the propensity of turning many inquirers to the faith off. Get this book, share it with others, and keep it in your prayer and the treasure of your heart.

Rating:
Summary: Spiritually Uplifting
Review: Robert Barron's enlightening little book explores the rich symbolic world of medieval cathedrals. Written as a series of fifteen meditations, "Heaven in Stone and Glass" approaches the cathedral as an intentional evocation of both Christian belief and the Christian journey. Barron's observations are rich in metaphor and allusion. His images are strongly drawn: the nave as womb, cruciformity as a way of the cross for all entrants, verticality as an invitation to transcendence, the rose as music of the spheres. He is also a voluminous reader, citing sources as diverse as the Desert Fathers, Dante, Flannery O'Connor, and Alisdair MacIntyre.

One criticism though. Despite his deep knowledge of cathedrals and their meaning, Barron misstated a few architectural details. Mostly notable was his contention that the flying buttress (not the pointed arch) was the architectural breakthrough that made brilliant illumination possible. But don't let this lapse deter you from enjoying this excellent book.