A new book looks at the curious adoption by 19th-century American Protestants of Roman Catholic architecture and aesthetics, despite widespread condemnation of Catholicism by those very same Protestants:
Protestant appropriation of Roman Catholic forms occurred in an America rife with Protestant anti-Catholic bigotry. When Catholic Europeans began immigrating in large numbers in the 1840s, the charge was reiterated that they were superstitious, dangerous, and inassimilable. It is only against this background that one can appreciate the irony of not only the Episcopal Church but the Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and even Baptist churches adopting the forms and usages of an otherwise abominated popery. What motivated them to borrow so from their idolatrous neighbors?Protestant appropriation of Roman Catholic forms occurred in an America rife with Protestant anti-Catholic bigotry.
Sounds interesting. The broader topic of Christian "adoption" throughout history of different elements--both from outside Christianity, or as in this case, from other branches of Christianity--is something I'd enjoy learning more about.
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