The Victorians built tens of thousands of churches in the hundred years between 1800 & 1900 Wherever you might be in the English-speaking world you will be close to a Victorian built or remodelled ecclesiastical building Contemporary experience of church buildings is almost entirely down to the zeal of Victorians such as John Henry Newman Henry Wilberforce & Augustus Pugin & their ideas about the role of architecture in our spiritual life & well-being In Unlocking the Church William Whyte explores a forgotten revolution in social & architectural history & in the history of the Church He details the architectural & theological debates of the day explaining how the Tractarians of Oxford & the Ecclesiologists of Cambridge were embroiled in the aesthetics of architecture & how the Victorians profoundly changed the ways in which buildings were understood & experienced No longer mere receptacles for worship churches became active agents in their own rights capable of conveying theological ideas & designed to shape people's emotions These church buildings are now a challenge their maintenance repair or repurposing are pressing problems for parishes in age of declining attendance & dwindling funds By understanding their past unlocking the secrets of their space there might be answers in how to deal with the legacy of the Victorians now & into the future