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Embedded in the narrative is another, perhaps more controversial theme. Kilde is intrigued by the relationship between religion and popular culture, and in the chapter from which the title of the book is taken—"Church Becomes Theatre"—she links the transformation of evangelical worship to the changes that were taking place in opera houses and other large theatrical venues. For professional architects, churches and theaters presented similar spatial problems, and they responded to them in the same way. In terms of seating, lighting, and staging, church and theater led parallel lives; indeed they seemed to feed off one another. Here the practical, utilitarian character of American evangelicalism enjoyed free rein: the fact that theatrical techniques could be used to present religion more effectively fully justified their widespread adaptation to religious purposes.
Visually this relationship is beyond question—in the late 19th century theaters and churches looked much the same. But I wonder whether this did not trouble those evangelicals who were determined to protect the purity of their religion from the intrusion of modern and secular notions, who may have bristled at the notion of the church becoming a theater or worship becoming performance. Did the sacred qualities of the church in some way protect it from this equation? But then there are two meanings in the title of this book, and if the first may go too far, the second is spot on. Even if the church did not become a theater, all these theatrical techniques were nonetheless very becoming: they suited the needs of evangelical worship very well.
Reading architectural space is a highly rewarding enterprise, and one stands in awe of the author's ability to explore nonwritten texts so creatively. By skillfully chronicling the movement from one church type to another and linking this transformation to the social and cultural concerns of American evangelicalism, this book not only enriches our understanding of American religious history but also brings what was peripheral to center stage, illuminating old questions and opening up new ones.
And yet the very strength of the story raises some important questions about the narrative Kilde so carefully constructs. Her study focuses upon the development of the amphitheatrical arrangement within a neomedieval structure; but is the dominance she claims for this new setting of worship limited by considerations of geography and class? All the new medieval churches the author selects are suburban and self-consciously middle-class; but what of the churches in smaller cities and towns where a single congregation had to encompass different classes and competing traditions of worship? Did they follow the same architectural course; did these evangelicals worship God in the same way? In my own field of study—Protestant Ontario—the neomedieval form was used by all denominations for all their churches throughout the Victorian period. From north of the border, American religious architecture appears incredibly eclectic. Is the story this book tells the only story, or just one important (perhaps even dominant) story among many?
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