Dr. Barry Stephenson is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. His work in the field of Religious Studies, focuses on ritual, religion and the arts, and religion in modernity. Currently, Barry co-directs the After Church Atlas research project, with colleague Dr. Nicholas Lynch.
D. Nicholas Lynch is an Assistant Professor within Memorial University's geography department. His work as an urban cultural geographer focuses on the built environment with three key focuses: adaptive reuse, the Circular Economy, and coastal heritage infrastructure. The first of these approaches centres on the After Church Atlas research project, co-operatively shared with Dr. Barry Stephenson.
After Church: Exploring Transformations in Sacred Space is a multidisciplinary study that explores the closure and transformation of worship spaces. Church closure is a socio-cultural phenomenon of major and growing significance. In recent decades, societal, demographic, architectural, as well as financial and other pressures have led to the shutting down of many worship spaces throughout North America and Europe.
Church closure is generally researched from the perspectives of architectural history, built heritage, as well as planning and policy. And while Barry and Nick‘s approach complements this research, they offer a unique perspective combining the expertise of a cultural urban geographer and a religionist, focusing on the dynamic and processual transformation of church buildings as lived spaces.