This enthralling study of the church of St. Agnes Outside the Walls brings to vivid life the stories, rituals, and architectural meaning contained within this seventeen-hundred-year-old building In The Geometry of Love, acclaimed author Margaret Visser, the preeminent "anthropologist of everyday life," takes on the living history of the ancient church of St. Agnes. Examining every facet of the building, from windows to catacombs, Visser takes readers on a mesmerizing tour of the old church, covering its social, political, religious, and architectural history. In so doing, she illuminates not only the church's evolution but also its religious legacy in our modern lives. Written as an antidote to the usual dry and traditional studies of European churches, The Geometry of Love is infused with Visser's unmatched warmth and wit, celebrating the remarkable ways that one building can reveal so much about our history and ourselves.
"Delightful . . . a guidebook that starts where ordinary guidebooks leave off . . . a profound analysis of [St. Agnes Outside the Walls] as a representative of churches, specifically Roman Catholic ones, everywhere."
The Christian Science Monitor
"Enthralling, absorbing and exquisitely researched."
Publishers Weekly
"Margaret Visser makes the journey urgent and necessary, revelatory. . . . She convinces me that I will learn about architecture and archaeology, but also something I might have missed about a more elusive subject. . . ."
