What Happens in the Sacred Space? Reflections on the Joint Use of Theology and Architecture to Shape Worship Space

This paper discusses the understanding of sacred space from the perspective of Protestant theology. According to this view, sacral or liturgical space is primarily a space of worship. The liturgical reforms of different eras have attempted to express an essential theological insight through the shaping of space and the use of architecture and the visual arts: that space functions as a frame for the interaction between God and humanity. In our modern age, however, profane spaces—a public square, a school auditorium, or the scene of a mass tragedy—can fulfill this function spontaneously, especially where people are conscious of their existential fragility. The modern sacred spaces of our time, on the other hand, consciously seek to express, with ecumenical commitment transcending denominational specificities, that sacred-liturgical spaces are not only an expression of verbal religious communication or spiritual experience but also signs of the intersection of the immanent and the transcendent.