The Geometry of Love

Fülszöveg

FFLOM THE PREAMBLE TO
THE GEOMETKY OF LOVE
THE BOOK SETS OUT TO MAKE THIS CHURCH—AND AT THE SAME TIME ANY OTHER CHURCH —MORE ACCESSIBLE TO VISITORS. IT IS AN ATTEMPT TO GIVE READERS AN INKLING OF THE SPIRITUAL. CULTURAL, AND HISTORICAL RICHES THAT ANY CHURCH OFFERS. THE GEOMETRY OF LOVE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH DATES AND MEASUREMENTS, OR WITH TEXTS THAT STUDIOUSLY AVOID ANYTHING THAT MIGHT SAY WHAT THE BUILDING IS ABOUT.
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WHEN CERTAIN BELIEFS ARE BEING EXPRESSED, I TAKE THEM SERIOUSLY AND SAY WHAT THEY ARE, BECAUSE THAT IS AN INDISPENSABLE PART OF THE EXPLANATION. S AN T ' A G N E S E'S IS A BUILDING THAT IS INTENTIONALLY MEANINGFUL; IT REVEALS ITSELF MOST FULLY TO PEOPLE PREPARED TO RESPOND TO ITS "LANGUAGE."

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Fülszöveg

FFLOM THE PREAMBLE TO
THE GEOMETKY OF LOVE
THE BOOK SETS OUT TO MAKE THIS CHURCH—AND AT THE SAME TIME ANY OTHER CHURCH —MORE ACCESSIBLE TO VISITORS. IT IS AN ATTEMPT TO GIVE READERS AN INKLING OF THE SPIRITUAL. CULTURAL, AND HISTORICAL RICHES THAT ANY CHURCH OFFERS. THE GEOMETRY OF LOVE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH DATES AND MEASUREMENTS, OR WITH TEXTS THAT STUDIOUSLY AVOID ANYTHING THAT MIGHT SAY WHAT THE BUILDING IS ABOUT.
>¦ ¦¦ r '
' M


. 'V •t d. -
fe-' • - ¦ KrS-
• A -
m "
il' ' .r, - rip i:
Â
o- - J %

WHEN CERTAIN BELIEFS ARE BEING EXPRESSED, I TAKE THEM SERIOUSLY AND SAY WHAT THEY ARE, BECAUSE THAT IS AN INDISPENSABLE PART OF THE EXPLANATION. S AN T ' A G N E S E'S IS A BUILDING THAT IS INTENTIONALLY MEANINGFUL; IT REVEALS ITSELF MOST FULLY TO PEOPLE PREPARED TO RESPOND TO ITS "LANGUAGE."

I
i !'
'' í ^ ' .
'i, í -'H
'II
.' ¦ I' ' 11 I
'1 -V ! H'/i», ¦ i' j xy

jij>' / VVl'i"


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THE GEOMETRY OF LOVE
SPACE. TIME. MYSTERY, AND MEANING IN AN OR.DINAKY CHURCH
In this brilliant new work, award-winning author Margaret Visser takes one church, Sant'Agnese fuori le Mura in Rome, and tells us what it means.
Places of worship —temples, chapels, pagodas, synagogues, cathedrals, mosques — are often the oldest and most famous, the strangest and the most beautiful buildings any town has to offer. Margaret Visser has visited hundreds of religious edifices, most of them churches, in her life. The famous ones often have guidebooks available to explain them, offering the visitor a wealth of detail but little else.
This lack of meaningful information, and reflection on her own unanswered questions, led Margaret Visser to embark upon T^e Geometry of Love, a book that will help us to "read" any church building, going well beyond its physical traits to delve into the compelling meanings that give rise to its structure.
The Geometry of Love takes the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le Mura in Rome as its subject. Visser casts her net widely and looks at history, theology, anthropology, art history and technology, iconography, hagiography, and folklore in order to explain this one small building. The book ends at the church's beginning, with the grave of Agnes, a twelve-year-old girl who was murdered seventeen hundred years ago and whose remains lie buried under the church. Her grave caused the church to be built in the first place and the church in turn has ensured that her death has never been forgotten. She still demands to be taken into account — and still poses challenging questions. Following the building and its many winding stories is like finding one's way to the centre of a labyrinth.
With her extraordinary gift for giving life and meaning to seemingly ordinary objects, Visser reveals the spiritual, cultural, and historical riches that any church can offer. The symbolism of lambs, the Christian fascination with virgins, a consideration of the meanings of martyrdom, the catacombs, the history of relics — all are explored in Margaret Visser's trademark blend of wisdom, wit, and first-rate scholarship.
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