Upton, Dell. Holy Things and Profane: Anglican Parish Churches in Colonial Virginia, Architectural History Foundation Books No. 10. New York and Cambridge, MA: Architectural History Foundation and MIT Press, 1986.
Dell Upton describes in great detail the planning, building, design, and use of 18th century Anglican churches in Virginia and shows how the church, in all these aspects, directly reflected the social relationships within Virginia society. Using blueprints, vestry recordings, artifacts and photographs, Uptom applies the performance theory method to gain an understanding of how Virginians acted in and felt about their churches. His key metaphor, hospitality, reveals the power struggles among the social classes, especially within the gentry class itself. The controversy over seating assignments inside the church serves as an excellent example of how the wealthy brought their private, secular, social dramas to the forefront of their religious activities. Upton clearly argues that church and state, religious and secular, and/or holy and profane were fully intertwined in colonial Virginia. [M. Murphy]