Ew Connection Time

St. Augustine/Gothic Architecture
We were asked to make a connection to St. Augustine’s philosophy to gothic architecture. St. Augustine was a philosopher always looking for answers on topics like religious topics. He believed that everything was predetermined by God so we wouldn’t be punished. However, he asked questions like why we sin then. He found a part of the answer from the Manicheans, in which they believed that we have a pure soul composed of light that is trapped into our dark physical bodies. In order to achieve happiness and salvation, we had to search for the light, or soul. By looking inward we feel this “inner experience.” By looking at gothic architecture, we are moving from the ways of Romanesque, in which there was no light. In gothic architecture, the point is to embrace the idea of moving away from the darkness and into the light. To emphasize on this, the outside of churches were portrayed almost dark and gloomy. On the other hand as you entered the church, there are these clerestory windows that bring in light, which are in turn illuminating on the colorful bible stories. This helps oneself to feel the different colors of light and inner experience.