CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY, LITURGY AND ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE IN NIGERIA

Many studies have identified theology and liturgy as part of the predominant determinants of ecclesiastical architecture. This study examined the trends in the development of ecclesiastical architecture in Nigeria with a view to identifying how and why theology and liturgy have affected these trends during the three phases of the development of this architecture. Since this study is theoretical and historical in nature, qualitative methods in form of literature, non-participant observation, unstructured interview and case study were employed to gather the data and analysis was done by description and content analysis. This study selected one church building of the same denomination across the three phases of development for progressive analysis and Lagos State was chosen as the study area because of many of her contributions to the development of ecclesiastical architecture in Nigeria. This study discovered that architecture of the Church gave denominational identity and at the same time expressed their mode of theology and liturgy. This study noted that space hierarchy and building materials were theologically and liturgically selected. This study concluded that theology and liturgy were primarily predominant in determining ecclesiastical architecture in Nigeria across the three phases because they found their expression and augmentation in architecture.