The Geometry of Love : Space Time Mystery and Meaning in an Ordinary Church

by Margaret Visser

Paperback, 2001

Publication

Harper Perennial (2001), 325 p.

Original publication date

2000

Awards

RBC Taylor Prize (Finalist — 2002)

Description

A "delightful" tour of Rome's St. Agnes Outside the Walls, examining the stories, rituals, and architecture of this seventeen-hundred-year-old building (The Christian Science Monitor). In The Geometry of Love, acclaimed author Margaret Visser, the preeminent "anthropologist of everyday life," takes on the living history of the ancient church of St. Agnes. Examining every facet of the building, from windows to catacombs, Visser takes readers on a mesmerizing tour of the old church, covering its social, political, religious, and architectural history. In so doing, she illuminates not only the church's evolution but also its religious legacy in our modern lives. Written as an antidote to the usual dry and traditional studies of European churches, The Geometry of Love is infused with Visser's unmatched warmth and wit, celebrating the remarkable ways that one building can reveal so much about our history and ourselves.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member pjpjx
an interesting idea gone wrong
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
Margaret Visser has one of the best stocked minds I've ever encountered. Educated as a Classics professor, she has expanded her publications to include the Colombian food exchanges, and this gem of a book. It deals with architecture and its details but is also an extended exploration of human our
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relationship with sacred spaces. And therefore with the concept of the sacred itself. To be read and reread.
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LibraryThing member SeriousGrace
The Sant' Agnese fouri le Mura church is named for a twelve year old girl named Agnes who was murdered in 305 A.D. Her throat was cut after she refused to marry the son of a Roman prefect. The name literally means "Saint Agnes Outside the Walls". In addition to a physical description of the church
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Visser supplies a mental and spiritual picture as well. She takes the reader on a journey back to the roots of Christianity with etymology lessons thrown in for good measure. My favorite part was the comparison of church to theater. Of audience and performance. Evocation of imagination and emotion in both arenas. Geometry of Love is for anyone with a good imagination and wants to "see" Sant' Agnese fouri le Mura church for him or herself.
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Language

Original language

English

ISBN

9780006391319

Rating

½ (21 ratings; 3.7)
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