Sacred space - Philip North

The most enduring monuments surviving from the long history of mankind are thoseerected under the religious compulsion for the worship of God and the well being of the dead in some future existence. Such religious edifices have withstood natural decay and the misfortunes of war and conquest to be an impressive witness to the nature of man as worshiper.

The term sacred space has been hijacked by yoga teachers, therapists and the unconventional to suit their own ends.In this book the approach is more orthodox and is Christian. Inspired by Walsingham (which is itself a sacred space) the authors here describe a new theology of sacred space- not just inrelation tobuildings but symbolically in terms the body the mind and the soul. One of the most original contributionsis from the Anglo Saxon scholar Michelle Brown who writes about the page as sacred space in the light of her studies of the Lindisfarne Gospels.

This is an enlivening and provocative book which will touch on the concerns and passions and many people.