Covenant Community Conflict

The past few days I've been reading Robert A. Scott's The Gothic Enterprise: A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral. Many who know me are aware of my love and fascination with Gothic Cathedrals. I've visited and photographed a number of the most well-known (and not so well known) cathedrals in Europe and America. Even today, we marvel at these massive structures that took generations to build. For instance, the Washington National Cathedral, the sixth largest cathedral in the world, despite being built in the modern construction era of the 20th Century had its foundation stone laid by Teddy Roosevelt and its last pinnacle set by George H.W. Bush. The main focus of Scott's book, Salisbury Cathedral, was completed in a fantastic 40 years during the 13th Century.

But in the midst of lavishing praise on the vision of Abbot Suger of St. Denis, etc., very rarely is it mentioned that many of these cathdrals were born and built out of conflict. Scott mentions (Chapter 6) that riots regularly broke out at the major pilgrimmage sites in Europe. At Santiago de Compostela (site of the tomb of the Apostle James), townspeople and canons seized power and set fire to the cathedral in an attempt to assassinate the local bishop. The roof of the cathedral roof had to be built with defensive positions that remained in place until the 17th Century. In Troyes and Beauvais, the burghers revolted against the trade monopolies granted to the bishops in order to raise money for the cathedrals. One only need look at the trade windows at Chartres to see the contempt that various groups within the town held each other in.

So why is it that we surprised when conflict appears in the Christian community today? Is conflict so verbotten, so un-Christlike, that any time conflict arises it must be quickly be extinguished? Is peace itself so virtuous that no disagreement can be brooked? What I think the history of these cathedrals teach us is that the Kingdom of God works itself, not in spite of , but in the midst of strife in the Christian community. This is by no means an appeal to open warfare in the church (we are called to preserve both the peace and purity of the church), but I think that conflict and disagreements are too quickly put down in the church today, leaving an artificial and cosmetic peace in many churches that leads to disaffection and alienation. The invisible church still has much to teach us in these astonishing buildings.

By the way, if you haven't seen the BBC series on Cathedrals yet, it is more than worth a look. I downloaded all five on the digitaldistractions torrent (please ignore if you are a copyright attorney). I'll post a couple of my cathedral pictures over the next few days.

Currently listening to: I've Forgotten You, Rhonda Vincent (from Ragin' Live); Ready to Go, Republica
Watched today: The Great Commanders: Horatio Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar (will watch Julius Caesar and the Battle of Alesia tomorrow).