The Suburban Church: Modernism and Community in Postwar America by Gretchen Buggeln (review)

Gretchen Buggeln’s in-depth study of postwar suburban American congregations presents readers with the best of interdisciplinary research and conversation in her new book, The Suburban Church: Modernism and Community in Postwar America. Buggeln’s knowledge of her field is apparent as she weaves in architectural study along with theology, sociology, and history to offer an honest critique of American postwar suburban culture and its relationship to the church. While the review of the architecture of church buildings within a particular point in American history and specific social context may seem obscure, as a pastor myself, the reasons and methods surrounding these structures and their corresponding culture continues to affect parish ministry today.

Following World War II, it was the American suburbs that promised a new future for growing families with greater economic capabilities, and the church became the target of those promises. Church buildings had to reflect this desire for a “better life” and the bright future that modernity offered. Thus, suburban congregations led the way for engagement with modernity in America, so Buggeln helps readers by placing these congregations and their buildings within their proper context for the benefit of our postmodern eyes. Buggeln’s study is well-sourced, including congregational records as well as testimonials from interviewed parishes across midwestern regions of the US and scholarly quotes from both architectural and theological masters. Her writing is able to combine all of this information into a single narrative that invites readers into the building process, worshiping life, and social reflection of suburban congregations.

Buggeln arranges her study with the following chapters: chapter 1, “The Modern Church Movement”; chapter 2, “The ‘Form-Givers’ of Suburban Religion”; chapter 3, “From Dream to Dedication”; chapter 4, “The A-Frame Church”; chapter 5, “The Suburban Sanctuary”; chapter 6, “Living and Learning as a Suburban Church Family”; chapter 7, “Religion, Architecture, and Community in the Celebrated Suburb of Park Forest, Illinois”; and chapter 8, “The Afterlife of the Postwar Suburban Church.”

Revolving around three particular architects, Buggeln takes readers through the various stages of the building process for these promising suburban congregations. Edward Sovik, Edward Dart, and Charles Stade shaped much of these congregations’ structures, and Buggeln utilizes their history of projects as well as their own views to discuss the connection between space and worship. “The form forms,” a professor of mine from seminary used to say, and Buggeln highlights just how each aspect of the church building enables a congregation’s worship. Not only does the worship space enable and inform the congregation’s worship and faith journey, but the building process as well has theological ramifications. It’s these types of insight that Buggeln’s work brings to the forefront of the conversation in regards to church construction and growth.

The desire for transcendence— to “belong” to something greater than oneself— is apparent in the modern church movement, particularly in the suburban context. Buggeln’s combination of sociological study and historical survey helps clarify this desire in a way that, as a pastor and scholar, I find enlightening and engaging. Surrounding these congregations are carefully structured neighborhoods and communities, where every niche is to be clearly mapped out. The church building then becomes a hub for vision in the community and the center for engagement beyond such daily constructs as family, career, and recreation. In fact, much of the congregation’s value for space was given to concern for the future— the Baby Boom generation came to the suburbs to create a new world for their children, a world hopefully beyond the horror and tragedy of World War II. Optimism for the future and the resources to build it contributed much to the modern church movement.

Buggeln’s research is still applicable as postmodern congregations utilize similar methods of transcendence while also upholding a high value in relevant presence within surrounding communities. The methodology used to craft worship spaces in suburban postwar America is maintained even today— the practical...