Church

:This article is about the Christian buildings of worship. For other uses of the word, see Church (disambiguation).

Origins of Christian places of worship

The architecture of Christian worship space grew out of the regular meetings of the followers of Christianity in private houses and synagogues, and occasionally in catacombs when necessary. When either the size of the community outgrew the space or the complexity of the uses of the space outpaced the architectural adaptation of houses, buildings began to be built specifically for worship. This became much more feasible and common when Constantine stopped the Roman persecution of Christians by issuing the Edict of Milan in 311.

Related Topics:
Private houses - Synagogue - Catacomb - Constantine - Edict of Milan

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the first century

The first Christians were, like Jesus, Jews resident in Palestine who worshipped on occasion in the Temple in Jerusalem and weekly in local synagogues. Temple worship was a ritual involving sacrifice, occasionally including the sacrifice of animals in atonement for sin, offered to Yahweh. The New testament includes many references to Jesus visiting the Temple, the first time as an infant with his parents.

Related Topics:
Jesus - Jews - Temple in Jerusalem - Yahweh - New testament

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The early history of the synagogue is controverted, but it seems to be an institution developed for public Jewish worship during the Babylonian captivity when the Jews did not have access to the Jerusalem Temple for ritual sacrifice. Instead, to give a rough summary, they developed a daily and weekly service of readings from the Torah or the prophets followed by commentary. This could be carried out in a house if the attendance was small enough, and in many towns of the Diaspora that was the case. In others more elaborate architectural settings developed, sometimes by converting a house and sometimes by converting a previously public building. The minimum requirements seem to have been a meeting room with adequate seating, a case for the Torah scrolls, and a raised platform for the reader and preacher.

Related Topics:
Babylonian captivity - Torah - Diaspora

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jesus himself participated in this sort of service as a reader and commentator (see Gospel of Luke 4: 16-24) and his followers probably remained worshippers in synagogues in some cities. However, following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70, the new Christian movement and Judaism increasingly parted ways. The Church became overwhelmingly Gentile sometime in the second century.

Related Topics:
Gospel of Luke - Temple in Jerusalem - 70

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For the history of how services take place within a church, see worship or do a search on any particular religious denomination that you might be interested in.

Related Topics:
Worship - Religious denomination

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~