Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: The Search for a Better Church Building
Chapter 2: The Postwar House of Worship
Chapter 3: Postwar Religious Building: A Negotiated
Chapter 4: Making a Modern Church Still Look Like a Church
Chapter 5: "Let's Stop Building Cathedrals"
Conclusion: An Unappreciated Legacy
Bibliography

About the Author

Jay M. Price directs the Public History Program at Wichita State University. His publications include Gateways to the Southwest: The Story of Arizona State Parks as well as several books on local history, most recently, Wichita's Lebanese Heritage and Kansas: In the Heart of Tornado Alley. He serves on the boards of the Kansas Humanities Council, Kansas State Historic Sites Board of Review, the Wichita Sedgwick County Historical Museum,
the University Press of Kansas, and the Kansas Association of Historians.

Reviews

"Jay M. Price presents an inspiring history of religious architecture in Northern America ... By arranging this material chronologically, Price narrates religious history in a dense, informative, yet readable way." --Bärbel Beinhauer-Köhler, Reading Religion
"One strength of Price's book is that his description of the pragmatic side of architecture does not completely obscure his view of architecture itself."--Anglican Theological Review
"[A] fascinating study... Price's work, at once affectionate and analytical, begins to fill an important gap, exploring the genesis of churches on which growing congregations across the United States expended literally billions of dollars in a postwar building boom." --American Catholic Studies
"Accomplishing its goal, this book draws the reader towards appreciating this much-maligned period in church architecture. Those interested in the history of church architecture and the Liturgical Movement, or involved in a church building project, will find this book helpful and enjoyable." --Theology
"Jay Price's Temples for a Modern God is an essential work for understanding the unique built environment of American religion." --Peter W. Williams, author of Houses of God: Region, Religion and Architecture in the United States
"At first glance all those thousands of mid-twentieth century suburban churches and synagogues look the same. Jay Price has given them much more than a glance. In this fascinating account, he shows how they came to be built, and how such factors as congregational tradition, builders' expertise, available materials, theology, locality, and available money all contributed to their ultimate appearance. To read Temples For a Modern God is to remember
that the actual physical places where religion happens vitally affect its character." --Patrick Allitt, Cahoon Family Professor of American History, Emory University
"Addressing the knotty question of how architectural modernism supplanted Christian and Jewish congregations' earlier preference for historicized houses of worship in the post-WWII period, Price dexterously untangles the many stakeholders, economic and cultural contexts, commercial processes, and aesthetic concerns that shaped this stunning transformation in religious architecture. This well-informed and carefully researched study is required reading for anyone
interested in religious architecture, postwar religion, or architectural modernism." --Jeanne Halgren Kilde, author of Sacred Power, Sacred Space: An Introduction to Christian Architecture and Worship
"A valuable contribution for scholars of American religion, architecture, and culture. Summing up: Recommended." --CHOICE
"This book is a must-read for all students of American or modern religious space and for students of religion in postwar America. It provides researchers an essential foundation for future site-specific explorations that will advance our understanding of modern religious buildings. With its engaging prose it is well suited for course adoption." --The Journal of Religion