ABSTRACT
Sacred architecture always has a 'reference beyond'; there is what Roger Scruton terms an overreaching intentionality. The stone of the temple is not simply stone, but a witnessing stone, stone brought alive through carving, moulding, into light and shade, to stand beside us in an observing posture. Sacred architecture is haunted by an 'invisible presence', its forms and details have the look of things that are looked upon by unseen eyes. The paradox of an architecture that attempts to reveal and make apparent a presence while concealing it is made manifest in the structure itself; Scruton feels that churches, mosques and temples manage to convey this seen, unseen quality even to those who enter in unbelief. Lindsay Jones has explored the connection between sacred architecture and content or meaning. He agrees with Michael Bakhtin that we are faced with an endless flux between buildings and their meanings, something which is not least true of sacred buildings.
