Wheeler, Otis B. 1921–

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Wheeler, Otis B. 1921–

PERSONAL:

Born February 1, 1921.

CAREER:

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, professor emeritus.

WRITINGS:

The Literary Career of Maurice Thompson, Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 1965.

(With Robert W. Heck) Religious Architecture in Louisiana, Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 1995.

(With Anne C. Loveland) From Meetinghouse to Megachurch: A Material and Cultural History, University of Missouri Press (Columbia, MO), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Otis B. Wheeler's best-known book, written with Anne C. Loveland, is From Meetinghouse to Megachurch: A Material and Cultural History. The book provides a timeline of church architecture that focuses on the origins of the latter-day megachurch—a structure commonly defined as that which seats several thousand people and is home to a nominally Protestant congregation.

The book includes over eighty full-color photographs taken by Wheeler that give the reader the visual references for the text. The authors' intent is to deflect criticism that these buildings are faceless, nondescript, generic houses of worship that seem more secular than spiritual in nature. In fact, Wheeler and Loveland trace the common megachurch's auditorium-like, ornamentally spare design back to the Calvinist meetinghouses of the 1600s and the Puritans' preference for utilitarian buildings, through to the huge tents that sheltered thousands during the traveling revivals of the first half of the twentieth century. The authors interviewed sixty-three megachurch leaders and combed through thousands of church bulletins and newsletters. Their research revealed these churches' need for multipurpose buildings that can accommodate numerous forms of worship and ministry, often aimed at those who have never set foot in a more "traditional" church. In this sense, the megachurch is not an inspirational, sacred space like a European cathedrals, but rather a means to an end of carrying out the church's ministries.

While Jeanne Halgren Kilde, writing in Church History, took issue with the authors' lack of data to support the idea that the similarities of early American churches and megachurches stem from the same religious and architectural goals, she said they are "to be commended for listening closely to the voices of those who have embraced the megachurch movement and taking their motivations and desires seriously." William Martin, in a review for the Journal of Southern History, called it a "timely and beautiful book."