Light and shadow in prayer Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Light and shadow in prayer - Dissertation Example Artists start from developing simple ideas, which in turn improve and become more significant in the world. Association of light and the church is an artistic style that has developed for a long period from 12th and 13th centuries. Since then, the use of light and darkness has developed to a level that is applauded by all church members, priests, believer and artists who engage in development techniques. it is in this view that the paper intents to provide a critical analysis of development of light and darkness in the church, the effect they have brought and the future of the artistic styles in using environment to enhance Godliness in the church. Introduction Architecture is the act of designing and creating buildings. It involves creating a style and a method of how a building is going to be constructed. This paper is going to define what prayer and the understanding what the church is. It will assess the early Christian communities and the origin of church building (Fletcher & Cruickshank, 2004). The paper will examine factors affecting the architectural churches and the origin of architectural church, the reformation and its influence in the church. The paper will look at modernism, a period after reformation and then asses the relationship between Light and shadow. Finally, it will look at the use of light in churches and prayer and light in the architectural churches (Pevsner, 2002). Meaning of Architecture ... The light is of great importance in the interior, also plays an important role in the perception of space. For centuries, religious buildings were created with particular attention to proper lighting the holy place. The natural light should not be forgotten in the architecture, and the words of Le Corbusier "Architecture is a smart, coordinated play of masses in the light," it should be the most important doctrine. Prayer Prayer is defined in so many ways and the various definitions that are given are normally associated with the experiences of those defining them. The first definition that we can talk of is prayer being a communication. Prayer is regarded as a means of communicating with God. Ordinarily, when people are communicating, it takes at least two people to communicate. When people are communicating, there is a message that is being sent to the receiver, the receiver is expected to encode the message and then give a feedback to the sender. When communicating with God, the s ame process is expected to take place. The person communicating with God, sends a message to God where by God is expected to receive the message and give a feedback. The feedback from God is normally regarded as fulfilled expectations of the person who is communicating with Him (Giles, 2004). The diagram below shows a priest and a church member communicating to God together. http://img.tfd.com/wn/30/605C7-prayer.png In connection with communication is the notion that prayer is talking to God. Communication involves talking to someone just like in prayer it is believed that we talk to God and hence a conversation with God. We normally hold a conversation with people who can hear us. In prayer, we therefore recognize the presence of God whom we talk