ABSTRACT
The Protestant reformation began in 1517 when Martin Luther allegedly nailed his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg Castle. Luther attacked what he regarded as the superstitious idolatry of ‘indulgences’. He reduced the Catholic sacraments from seven to two – baptism and the Eucharist (Holy Communion). Female (and male) saints disappeared from rood-screens, walls and pews. In their place, the Lutheran two pillars of pure faith – sola fidei (faith alone) and sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) – became paramount. Streetscapes, churches and houses lost their statues and pictures of the Virgin Mary. 1 Over time, an ecclesiastical Protestant landscape of worship emerged with the pulpit at the centre of the gaze. The eighteenth-century baroque Kanzelaltar of Germany that towered above congregations were the apogee of this design. 2 By contrast, the plain meeting-houses of Protestant sects such as Quakers and Brethren were built in quiet designs of stone and wood from England to America.
