The Elect and the Damned: the material culture of belief in post-Reformation Scotland, 1560-1750

Last updated: 23 May 2024

About the research

The story of the Scottish Reformation has long been dominated by tales of material destruction, resulting in the perception of post-Reformation Scotland as a ‘dour’ and colourless place. This research project complicates such long-held beliefs by investigating the religious material culture produced and used in the centuries following the Scottish Protestant Reformation (1560-1750). Through a series of case studies, it reveals how the study of material culture associated with the practice and performance of religious belief can present a more complex picture of religious life in post-Reformation Scotland. In considering both public and private devotion across various denominations, it explores how religious material practice shaped, and was shaped by, the everyday lives of early modern society in Scotland. Furthermore, the project will evaluate how representative National Museums Scotland's collections are of the diversity of devotion in Scotland after the Reformation and suggest new curatorial strategies with the aim of presenting more diverse narratives of Scottish belief.