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高德隆蒙席　教廷駐華大使

蔡麗貞　中華福音神學院院長

黃旭榮　校園書房出版社總編輯

林承曄　日華國際旅行社總經理

謝榮生　中華基督教長老會臺北信友堂牧師

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Encountering Twelve of Asia’s Greatest Churches

The Preface for the Book written by Freda Tsai & David Wang, "Encountering Twelve of Asia’s Greatest Churches".

In the past, the construction of churches of different denominations has indeed been an important node, if not starting point, of urban and structural development of many European cities. Even though this might not always be the case in Asia, the religious architecture has undeniably enriched the history and beauty of its cities, and facilitated the encounter between different peoples, cultures and religions, thus becoming an integral part of national heritage and faith.

Encountering Twelve of Asia's Greatest Churches is a laudable effort to introduce at least some of the many Catholic, Protestant Presbyterian and Anglican churches in Asia. It is composed of three interconnected elements.

At the beginning of each part, it offers basic information about the life and work of evangelization of the ‘founders’ of each church. They had, indeed, the initial idea of building "a house for God to dwell in" [cf. 2 Sam. 7:5.13; Eph. 2:22]. It is through this idea too that they were able to fulfil their own mission, which is to facilitate the encounter with Jesus Christ, to penetrate people's hearts, to do them human and spiritual good and bring them closer to one another.

Secondly, it focuses both on the architecture design of each church and on their architectural style, developed by some renowned architects. It highlights the fact that a successful fusion of Western, Chinese and Japanese concepts, ideas, techniques and motifs has given rise, in some cases, to a new architectural form, and created an altogether original style as well. No wonder that even today certain churches count as the most important church construction from the 1950s, and are being designated, in Taiwan at least, as cultural heritage, thus going much beyond the status of a merely touristic site and attraction.

Finally, it makes clear that the true splendour of these twelve churches lies, above all, in the fact that they are a constant and visible reminder of religious and human values and ideals which have helped both the Christianity and the society to withstand very difficult times of the past. One can indeed go further and say that they remain a strong call to rekindle our inner spirit and contribute to the building of the future on the same values and ideals, always with due respect to our differences, which are a good reason for our encounter.

Readers will find that this book is not a selective presentation of certain magnificent churches, nor does its usefulness lie just in being a new contribution in the field of studies on Asian religious architecture. The greatest contribution of the book may lie in the authors attempt to stimulate and nurture "spiritual reading" of the builder's original spirit of intention, and deeper understanding of the symbolic meaning of buildings intended for the worship of God and for the consecration of men.

It is my hope and prayer that Encountering Twelve of Asia's Greatest Churches will be helpful to many Catholic, Protestant Presbyterian and Anglican readers, as well as to become attractive to the readers coming from other religious denominations.

Msgr. Slađan Ćosi（46詳細商品說明