C. R. Wiley
All Content by C. R. Wiley
The Church Meets the Humpty Dumpty Zoning Ordinance
Near the end of World War II, Winston Churchill remarked of war-torn England, “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” Churchill understood buildings as more than pretty pictures on souvenir postcards. We learn many things from the bricks, stone, mortar, sidewalks, streets, and plazas in many cities. Our buildings, rooms, corridors, streets, […]
Christian Perspectives on Euclidian Zoning
Euclidian zoning has several economic effects. These effects can be seen clearly in cities with exclusionary zoning like Detroit. The first effect is felt immediately, and the second effect becomes more evident as economic conditions change. The first effect of exclusionary zoning is to create a high bar for entry into a neighborhood. It says […]
How to Listen to a Building
Once upon a time, the people who built churches believed the buildings could talk. Today, many of the people who build churches for a living don’t know what their buildings are saying. The buildings still speak, but mostly the messages are unintentional. And regrettably some church buildings actually contradict what is being preached from the […]
“Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion” by Alain de Botton
When I learned that Alain de Botton had written a book with the title Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion, I thought: “Why, of course he has.” I was introduced to de Botton through The Architecture of Happiness‘a book that really is about how architecture can make us happy. Since […]
“Church Planting is For Wimps: How God Uses Messed-Up People to Plant Local Churches That Do Amazing Things” by Mike McKinley
Church Planting is For Wimps begins with a counterintuitive title and builds a contrarian case for church planting from there. It directly assails the conventional wisdom about who the ideal church planter might be, how to go about the task of planting a church, and how success should be measured. The book is one of […]
