Towards an African Ecclesiology in Stones

Tambwe, Richard M. (2010) Towards an African Ecclesiology in Stones. Licentiate thesis, Santa Clara University Berkeley, California.

PDF (Towards an African Ecclesiology in Stones) Towards an African Ecclesiology in Stones.pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (15MB) | Request a copy

Abstract

The origin of this work can be traced back to two years ago. In 2008, while finishing my BA in theology at Hekima College in Nairobi, I was involved, as an architect, in the renovation of the “small chapels” of that Jesuit Institution. Under the leadership of the then Rector of Hekima Jesuit Community, Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, SJ, we were looking for ways to make the chapels feel more comfortable and help people encounter God easily there. At least, that was our ambition and it was clearly decided that the renovation should aim at both architectural and theological rehabilitation. Hence, the seats and the carpets were replaced, the tabernacles redesigned, the ceilings improved, the lighting modernized, and the windows transformed in such a way that each of the seven small chapels became associated with one of the seven sacraments: Baptism for Shaidi community, Eucharist for Ushirika community, Confirmation for Karibuni community, Matrimony for Pamoja community, Holy Orders for Maisha community, Reconciliation for Kwetu-Kwenu community, and Anointing of the Sick for Huduma community. The process of renovating, however, was not that easy. Since the height of these chapels was small (approximately 9 feet), I proposed installing mirrors in the ceilings in order to obtain the impression of a double volume (Fig. 1). The idea was adopted, but it raised much controversy: some found the project unnecessarily expensive; others saw it as too modern; and still others genuinely alleged that the mirrors would remind one of a nightclub. I succeeded in defending the project by suggesting that my critics should think of the chapels while in the nightclubs and not the other way around. Nevertheless, I started pondering the objections theologically and realized, for instance, that encountering God is somehow an experience of oneself—it is a kind of reflection of oneself in a mirror. Whether or not the mirrors currently incorporated in the ceilings of the small chapels at Hekima College convey the above theological insight, the process of installing them developed in me the need to examine the relationship between architecture and theology. Thus, the following open questions: Is it appropriate to do theology through architecture? Can sacred architecture reveal God by speaking well of God (theology in art), as opposed to speaking correctly of divine matters (discursive theology)? Or, the reverse, can God reveal God-self through the architecture of churches and places of worship? What do the gestures (of kneeling, signing oneself with holy water from a baptismal font, singing, or whispering a prayer, etc.) and other marks of devotions—that a believer (not a tourist) manifests when entering a church—tell us about faith and how are these gestures and devotions shaped by the building? What are the main issues in the relationship between liturgy and architecture? How can architecture enhance liturgy, and how can liturgy advance architecture? How does a church (made of inert stones) build the community called Church (as living stones)? Is a church “the house of God” or “the house of God’s people” or both? In sum, how can architecture build a community of Christians or, should it happen, destroy it? All these broad interrogations will be deepened in this work, although with so few answers, and merged into a single project: contributing in words, drawings, and, hopefully, in stones, to the question of how churches and worship places should be built in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, in the near future. In fact, the Archdiocese of Kinshasa plans to either build a basilica or expand the current cathedral, as a visible sign of the flourishing community called Church in Congo, within Africa. Therefore, beyond addressing a specific need of sacred architecture, this work modestly aims at taking architecture seriously in order to sketch an “African Ecclesiology in Stones.” Specifically, I plan to demonstrate how architecture in African ecclesial context can truly be, in Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator’s terms, “theology (as) faith in search of understanding, love, and hope.” For that purpose, I use Alejandro García-Rivera’s method of interlacing and the art history tools of visual attention to form, symbol, and function as a basis for theological aesthetics and ecclesiology. This method “interlaces” various approaches using formal analysis as an “interpretant” to create an interpretative “web” of insights that are both theological and aesthetic. The work develops on an implicit comparison and contrast of two famous Catholic cathedrals in California: Craig W. Hartman, Cathedral of Christ the Light, 2008, concrete, glass, stone, wood. Oakland (Fig. 2) and Jose Rafael Moneo, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 2002, concrete, glass, stone. Los Angeles (Fig. 3). Then, bringing African theology as an interpreter in the comparison between the Oakland and Los Angeles cathedrals, a resulting third model is imagined in an inbetween a cathedral and a basilica, from an African point of view. In other words, I will interpret these buildings in terms of an architecture that has theological meaning.

Item Type:	Thesis (Licentiate)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BT Doctrinal Theology G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology N Fine Arts > NA Architecture
Divisions:	Africana Afro-Christiana Jesuitica
Depositing User:	Tim Khabala
Date Deposited:	13 Sep 2017 09:08
Last Modified:	13 Sep 2017 09:08
URI:	http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/2151

Actions (login required)

View Item