The presentation of history using objects is currently the trend in many books and exhibits. There are books on the history of a given topic in 8, 10, or 50 objects. For example, I recently saw an exhibit on the history of Frankfort am Main in 100 objects.

Scholars are also doing this in religious studies, where they apply anthropology, art history, performance studies, and aesthetics are applied in the investigation of belief in everyday practices. They look at the images, objects and spaces of religious devotion and the sensations and feelings that are the medium of experience. The new questions include those of embodiment, sensation, space, and performance. Here is a podcast on the topic of material religion.

In a new book, Hasidic Art and the Kabbalah(October, 2017) by Batsheva Goldman-Ida she connects material culture and Hasidism, the textual world of Kabbalah meets the art exhibit. In several…