Godly things: museums, objects and religion

Fourteen varied essays on how museums handle and present religion. Though museums and art galleries are often compared in role and function to shrines or temples, religion itself is often largely ignored. However, contemporary appreciation of non-Western religions may change this as the cultural heritage of hitherto marginalized peoples is given more serious attention. The contributors to this volume explore how museums handle and present religious material. The first three chapters look, from different perspectives, at the principal themes and techniques involved; these are followed by a series of chapters looking at the treatment of religions from Methodism to Voudou in museums from Belfast to Taiwan.