After Heaven: Spirituality in America since the 1950's

At first glance, Robert Wuthnow’s After Heaven might seem an unusual selection for review in a journal established for the edification of architects interested in the reform of contemporary ecclesiastical architecture. But Wuthnow—one of the foremost interpreters of post-war (WWII) American religion—has written a work that is essential reading for anyone grappling with the problem of creating (or re-creating) a traditional architectural language for American churches often seemingly cut adrift in contemporary American society.

Of particular interest to readers of Sacred Architecture is Wuthnow’s thesis that the role of religion in American society has shifted from one based on a metaphor of dwelling (pre-1950s) to a metaphor of seeking (1960s to the present). Wuthnow’s argument centers on the idea that—since the 1950s—increased professional and social mobility make it difficult for Americans to nurture an active spiritual life because they no longer feel rooted to particular places. To compensate, they set fort on spiritual journeys, “characterized more often by dabbling than by depth.” In contrast to “dwelling-oriented” and “seeking-oriented” spiritualities, Wuthnow offers another path, that of those who engage in a “practice-oriented” spirituality, one that is “making a deliberate attempt to relate to the sacred” through disciplines such as reading, prayer, and service. While this third path might seem divorced from traditional religious institutions, Wuthnow argues that the spiritual practices of a practice--oriented spirituality “ultimately sustain these institutions by giving individuals the moral fortitude to participate in them without expecting too much from them.”

When Wuthnow writes “[t]he dispersed self is not regarded as a floundering entity in search of its hidden being but one that draws strength from the varied situations in which it exists” it could be read as a call to build sacred institutions which declare faith not just for those who enter in, but even more so for those who simply pass by. Sacred architecture, thoughtfully designed and sited, can bear silent yet eloquent witness to a lived faith that reaches places words might never penetrate.

Bryan Clark Green is Assistant Curator for Prints and Photographs at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, Virginia.

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