The Place of Power: The Christian Acquisition of the Roman Basilica

Student's Name

Tysen Dauer, Minnesota State University, Mankato

1st Student's Major

World Languages and Cultures

1st Student's College

Arts and Humanities

Students' Professional Biography

Tysen Dauer is a Freshman undergraduate Pre-Theology student at Minnesota State University, Mankato majoring in Humanities and Speech Communication with minors in German and music. He was born, raised and currently lives in Nicollet Minnesota. Dauer graduated from Nicollet Public High School in the spring of 2005. During high school Tysen was an active member of the concert band, jazz band, science club, philanthropy club and track. Tysen enjoys studying culture, learning biblical languages, performing and composing music and debating. Tysen is currently working on a number of recitals featuring contemporary and twentieth century composers and has received numerous honors and awards for music performance. Dauer has been involved in the MSU, Mankato German Club and is a Presidential Scholar. Dauer is a Sunday school teacher and organist at Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Mankato. Tysen Dauer will be attending Columbia University over summer break where he will take classes in ancient Greek. He will be a member of the speech forensics team, Humanities club, Foriegn Language Association, and German club in the coming academic year at MSU, Mankato. After graduating in spring 2009, Tysen plans to attend graduate school and seminary. Tysen hopes to become a pastor.

Mentor's Name

Thomas Hagen

Mentor's Department

World Languages and Cultures

Mentor's College

Arts and Humanities

Abstract

Architecture provides a cultural window into peoples’ thoughts, actions, and beliefs. This is especially true of religious architecture. The modern phenomenon of the “megachurch” has resulted from a period of transition for Christians which is strikingly similar to the situation which faced Christians in the 4th century A.D. How the early Christians dealt with their building needs and how modern Christians are dealing with theirs provides an insight into how both the practice of Christianity and the culture in which it is practiced has changed. Research showed that the situations in which these structures were built had much in common: a growing political acceptance, an explosion of converts to the church, and a desire to move from non-religious buildings (for the early Christians this was homes, for modern Christians it was schools, homes, and theaters) to buildings set aside primarily for religion. But whereas the basilica became a giant icon in itself the megachurch today tends to be “desacralized.” That is, religious symbols and icons are kept to a bare minimum. The influence of politics, fellowship, missions, technology, theology, iconography, clergy/laity relations, and pop culture on the architecture of the megachurch show why and how Christians have dealt with these similar situations in such different ways.

Recommended Citation

Dauer, Tysen (2006) "The Place of Power: The Christian Acquisition of the Roman Basilica," Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato: Vol. 6, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56816/2378-6949.1110
Available at: https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/jur/vol6/iss1/3

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