State of the art: A Q&A with the Smithsonian’s new religion curator

Peter Manseau, who holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Georgetown University and whose many books include the history “One Nation, Under Gods” and the novel “Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter,” was recently hired as the first Lilly Endowment curator of American religious history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Photo courtesy of Peter Manseau

By S. Brent Plate | 3 hours ago

(RNS) The place of religion in museums has a long, troubled, and often strange history.

In the 1930s, the Soviet Union established a series of “anti-religion” museums. Several decades later, objects from the museums were transformed for use in the Museum of the History of Religion, now in St. Petersburg.

And in response to ethnic and religious clashes across Scotland, the government there helped create the St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art, which is dedicated to “understanding and respect between people of different faiths and of none.”

Whether devoted to art, archaeology, or history, museum spaces can provide a neutral, public space to see the role of religion in the variety of human experiences.

http://religionnews.com/2016/10/17/state-of-the-art-a-qa-with-the-smithsonians-new-religion-curator/

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/subjects/religion