EN041 Bilingual Book Group: "The Universe of Stone" by Philip Ball

Friday, 4th November, 2016

2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Free to WICE Members

"Universe of Stone: Chartres Cathedral and the Triumph of the Medieval Mind" by Philip Ball

In the twelfth century, Christians in Europe began to build a completely new kind of church - soaring, spacious monuments flooded with light from immense windows. These were the first Gothic churches, the crowning example of which was the cathedral of Chartres: a revolution in thought embodied in stone and glass, and a bridge between the ancient and modern worlds.

In the Universe of Stone, Philip Ball explains the genesis and development of the Gothic style.  He argues that it signified a profound change in the social, intellectual and theological climate of Western Christendom.  As the church represented nothing less than a vision of heaven on earth, this shift in architectural style marked the beginning of the argument between faith and reason which continues today, and of a scientific view of the world that threatened to dispense with God altogether.

Group leader:  the group discussion will be led by Dijana Vrban