Far from being dead, as Nietzsche declared, God seems to be alive and well, if one judges from the postmodern emphasis on religion. Karla Cavarra Britton’s Constructing the Ineffable, Contemporary Sacred Architecture brings together 20 essays by Diana Eck; Kenneth Frampton; Zaha Hadid, FAIA; Richard Meier, AIA; and others to consider what sacred architecture is, and what it isn’t. Vincent Scully provides an overview of the topic from antiquity onward, and philosopher Karsten Harries argues that “the sacred needs architecture if it is not to wither and that, similarly, architecture needs the sacred.” The book spans Christian, Jewish, Islam, Hindu, and Baha’i faiths and structures.• $50; Yale University Press, March 2011
