Church buildings often serve multiple purposes including corporate worship, social service provision, education, and even leisure. The notion which ties these disparate purposes together is a desire to become a community hub. In this way churches mimic other social institutions such as schools, community centres, and some clubs. In addition, contemporary church architecture also engages elements of biophilic design. In this regard churches tend to mimic hospitals and other wellbeing spaces. What then is distinctive about church architecture? While Christianity may promote love as its highest virtue (e.g., Mat 22:36-40; 1 Cor 13:13) it is actually the virtue of hope which predominates in the architecture of effective worship spaces. Using an evolutionary lens and an awareness of psycho-biological principles the author will explore how church architects from multiple traditions have historically used a variety of elements including building materials, perspective, colour, ornamentation, and the decorative arts to enhance worshipers’ experience of hope. Ultimately, it will be asserted that designing spaces of hope is not about creating opportunities for community, or enhancing wellbeing, but about promoting an architecture of defiance.

In October 2022, Iranian people take to the streets to protest. With the internet cut, social media platforms blocked and older bans on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Telegram still enforced, communities are driven to employ antiquated and powerful means to communicate. At 9pm every evening, people turn off their lights and start chanting, their calls ‘death to dictator’ echo around their city giving voice to protest in an engagement of solidarity shrouded in darkness; deidentified bodies, calling protest and presence into the night. At a great risk, these citizens are mobilised to hear and be heard in a context of violent social upheaval and radical challenge. No face-to-face dialogue, no carefully constructed encounter, these bodies call out into the darkness and dialogue their dissent. This paper will explore how we can think about gracious engagement when traditional (careful) scaffolding is not present. I will ask if it is possible to cherish the space between bodies when dialogue is deidentified and bodies are hidden from one another.