Romanesque Architecture and Theology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Romanesque Architecture and Theology - Essay Example By the end of 12th century the roman art of decoration and architecture had spreads wide in Europe as Jackson explains and had overtaken any form of earlier arts to become the household mostly in the design of cathedrals, palaces and other important buildings that were very significant to the lives of the people . Jackson further explained that, the church embraced the Romanesque architecture to a great deal, and the clergy afterwards started to conduct schools using the arts where students could be taught the philosophy, theology, and meanings of letters mostly using the creativity of the Roman art. Jackson explains that, the Romanesque architecture was very influential to the Christian theology in that, in the 11th and the 12th centuries, all the major churches and monarchs could only be constructed using the laid down specifications that borrowed heavily from the architecture . The art was embraced so that all the religious arts could offer easily recognizable buildings through the severity and restraint of the ornamentation used and in fact, as Jackson explains, the art and ornamentation was confined to the hands of the clerics who extensively used the art in the monastic architecture. It would therefore follow that; the use of the art in the monastic construction could only have a specific symbolism that the art conveyed to the early believers . Stalley further explains that the Romanesque architecture to a large extent, although used for ornamentation and construction played a vital role in preserving the memories of saints and martyrs for commemoration by the faithful . 4 . Therefore, by being used in the teaching of philosophy and theology as well as representation of the mystery sand doctrine of the church, the Romanesque architecture became very vital in transforming and influencing the theology of the day in the medieval church. Symbolism The major characteristic behind the use of the Romanesque architecture and its influence to the early church theology wash the symbolism in which the decorations and constructions of the churches and monasteries represented. The symbolic use of numbers, figures and other representations proved to be very effective in advancing the theology and the doctrines of the early church. Baptism which has been a major ritual in the current church according to Ferguson could be considered as a symbolic rite through which the faithful denounce the sinful state to acquire a new life that could be considered to be inline with Christian teaching5. Such a symbolic rite has gained much credence and respect in the church today an d has been vital in the doctrine of the church through which one declares to be in communion with the Christ. In addition to these sacred rituals, according to Crook, the arts have continued to be used in the religious doctrines because of the value of language that the arts speak and the fuller life of Christian experiences that the arts have portrayed overtime6. Stalley explains that the design of the church was mainly in the form of common geometrical shapes such as octagons, cross shapes, squares, octagons and other symbolic shapes that had various meanings to the teachings of the church7. The shapes to a large extent were symbolic according to the Christian beliefs and the symbolic nature of the buildings played a major role in extending the belief from the teachings to the actual construction of the churches. Stalley