Art Museum Tours Build Understanding among People of Different Faiths

 By Nate Feldman

The Art of Interfaith Understanding is an ongoing series of tours of the Philadelphia Museum of Art led by Reverend John Hougen of Interfaith Philadelphia: https://www.interfaithphiladelphia.org

Initiated in 2013, members of diverse religious communities come together to study different works of art that have a spiritual theme.  The goals of the tour are to teach the traditions of other religions through the artwork of people of that faith, to engage the tour participants in discussion about how spirituality influenced different artists, and to assess the spiritual impact of the artworks on the participants. 

Reverend Hougen, a retired Lutheran pastor, believes art is an excellent vehicle for promoting interfaith dialogue as it encourages people to discuss faith and its influence on “aesthetically pleasing” items without getting too deep into doctrine.  “It’s a non-dogmatic way of introducing other people to different traditions,” he believes.

He also feels the artwork has the ability to raise curiosity among the tour members about other people’s traditions.  They want to understand more about the tradition that inspired the different kinds of art.

A unique activity members of the program get to take part in is when they split off and find something in the museum with a religious theme that catches their attention.  When they reconvene, they tell the others about what they found and what interested them the most.  They also engage in discussions about how what the artist has done relates to their own spiritual life. 

The tours are open to the general public several times throughout the year, and individuals or different congregations are invited to join. To register go to https://www.interfaithphiladelphia.org/art