An Introduction To The Primary Visual Arts In Worship

There are three primary liturgical furnishings for the setting of worship: the pulpit, the Table (or altar), and the baptismal font (or pool). The size, shape, and placement of these furnishings vary according to the setting in which worship takes place. The following comments relate to the current understanding of the place and function of the primary symbols in a renewal worship.

The Pulpit In the early church there was no such thing as a pulpit. Pulpits were invented during the medieval era and did not become popular until the fifteenth century. In England, pulpits did not become standard until 1604 when James I ordered that pulpits be established in every church. In liturgical churches, a divided chancel promoted the use of two pulpits, one for the readings of the Old Testament lessons and epistles, another for the reading of the gospel and the sermon. Protestants insisted on one central pulpit, usually placed on a raised platform with the Table under the pulpit on the level where the people sat. It is now generally agreed upon by liturgists and scholars that only one pulpit is necessary. It should be simple and close to the people to express symbolically that God is near. The design of the pulpit should emphasize the Bible that it holds and should not draw attention to itself. It may be adorned with a cloth hanging in the color of the season, as long as the cloth does not take attention away from the Scripture. In brief, a pulpit should not be an end in itself but should serve the Scripture. It expresses the importance of the Word of God in the midst of God's people. Because of the reintroduction of balance between Word and sacrament in worship, the pulpit should be neither large and dominating nor small and inconspicuous in relation to the Table. It should be set on the same level as the Table and to its left (as viewed from the congregation). It is best to make it out of the same material and design as the Table to show the unity of Word and sacrament. The Table The use of the Table is derived from the Last Supper when Jesus sat at a table in the Upper Room with his disciples and instituted his supper. It is not clear, however, when the Table became associated with sacrifice and thus received the name altar. The earliest name for the place of the eucharistic action was table. As the central object in the early church, the Table was free-standing and simple. In small worship settings the people gathered around it to celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ. Gradually the Table came to be called the altar, the place of sacrifice, and it became the object of increased attention artistically. In some cases, very large altars were built (e.g., Lady Chapel of Ely had a sixteen-foot altar); in other places, altars with columns and a canopy (ciborium) were built. In many churches, the altar became the major artistic focus, having numerous carvings of the apostles, saints, and biblical scenes. Most altars were dressed with elaborate altar hangings, crosses, and candles. The altars came to be placed against the back wall of the church at a great distance from the people. This was consistent with the growing hierarchy of the church, the dominance of the clergy over the people, and the clericalization of worship. In the Reformation, Protestants cleared their churches of these altars, smashing and demolishing many of them. Clearly this action was a sign of their rejection of the belief that Christ was resacrificed on the altar in favor of a simpler interpretation of the sacrament. Large and conspicuous altars were replaced with small inconspicuous tables set below the pulpit, the new dominant architectural symbol of the Protestant church. Today the balance between Word and Table, which represents a return to the practice of the early church, is emphasized by using a simple table with plain liturgical utensils. Furthermore, the Table has been moved away from the back wall to the front of the nave inviting all the people to participate in the worship that takes place around the Table. In renewed Protestant churches, the Table is now larger and placed in the center or off center where both Table and pulpit visually express the unity and centrality of Word and Table. Baptismal Font or Pool In the early period of the church, new Christians were baptized in local pools or rivers. However, as congregations began to build their own places of worship, especially after the conversion of Constantine, places for baptism in the church building became increasingly important. At first baptismal places were either separate buildings or adjoining rooms off the narthex. Pools were usually square or rectangular, reflecting the shape of the Roman baths or of tombs. Since baptism is associated with death to sin, the shape of a tomb was a strong factor in the architectural development of baptismal pools. Thus, like many tombs, baptismal pools were built in a circular fashion with six and eight-sided designs. In the late medieval era, detached baptisteries were no longer built, and a font was placed inside the church. The specific symbolic expression of death to sin through baptism into Christ weakened. Gradually, a space in the church, usually near the entrance, came to be the place of baptism and entrance into the church. It became the norm to erect a font for pouring or sprinkling as infant baptism, not adult baptism, became the prevailing practice. In Protestantism, the baptistery nearly ceased to exist. Calvinists simply used a portable basin. Anglicans and Lutherans placed a small font near the door. Baptists, while having a pool, usually hid it under the pulpit area so that it had no visibility, except when in use. In the twentieth century architects have been returning to the idea that a particular space for baptism is the way of visually expressing the new importance placed on baptism. The earlier conviction that baptism is a participation in the death of Christ and, therefore, a baptism of death to sin has been restored in renewed worship. There is a need to express this biblical truth in a spatial way. In modern Roman Catholic churches, a space designated only for baptism is created in the new church buildings by relegating baptismal spaces to one side of the church in the entrance hall or the narthex. In many new Protestant churches, the font or pool is in the back of the church near the entrance, but in a space of its own where the people within the congregation may move to and gather for the celebration. While new attention is being given to the baptismal space, no one standard configuration has emerged. What occupies the attention of congregations and architects is the concern to provide a space for congregational participation, a space that visually represents what is happening, and a shape for the pool or font that expresses the meaning of being buried with Christ in a death to sin. By arranging the pulpit, the Table, and the baptismal font (or pool) visually in a manner appropriate to their function, the church proclaims the central message of the Christian faith.