Windows on the Eternal: Spirituality, Heritage and Interpretation in Faith Museums

Abstract

Western audiences are used to seeing religious objects in museums’"whether in collections of art, archaeology, ethnographic or social history. However, the twentieth century has seen the proliferation of museums devoted specifically to religion. While a few have attempted to explore the subject of religion in general, most are single faith museums exploring and documenting a particular religion, denomination or aspect of religion. There are those that seek to preserve the diaspora experience of migrant communities or to safeguard the memory of people or events (particularly in the case of Holocaust memory of Jewish communities), while others to reinforce the faith among adherents or to engage and even convert non-believers. These faith museums raise interesting challenges for museology. Who is collecting the objects and for what purpose? Is it the faith community itself or others trying to document cultural practice? Who is interpreting the collections, the source community or outsiders? This chapter defines the faith museum, provides a typology based on the purpose and content of the collections, analyzes the geographical distribution of faith museums and examines the presentation, interpretation and treatment of collections. Three case studies develop these themes in greater detail. The first is the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in Glasgow Scotland, a multifaith museum which promotes an understanding of the world’s religions. The second is the Jewish Museum in London which aims to explore Jewish heritage and identity. The third example is The Holy Land Experience in Florida which aims to bring the Bible alive for believers while presenting the Gospel of Christ to the world.