The Shape of the Resurrection, from the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem to the Round Churches of England.
My new home, Cambridge, is home to one of the most peculiarly shaped churches in the country, the so-called Round Church, one of only four throughout the nation. The history behind this peculiar design is not simply aesthetic but it carries a profound theological significance rooted in the very heart of Christendom. This story begins in 4th century Jerusalem, when Emperor Constantine embraces Christianity, willing to celebrate the new religion in all of its glory, he commissions the construction of churches in the Holy Land associated with the key events of the life of Jesus Christ. At the center of this effort is the journey of his mother, Helena, to Jerusalem. According to early sources, she identified these sites by consulting local Christian communities who had preserved the knowledge of these holy sites from living memory in the then not-so-distant apostolic times. Modern archeological research has increasingly supported the validity of these sites, as opposed to the made-up “Gard...
