In 2017, the British art historian Neil MacGregor created a BBC radio series and book that explored the art and artifacts of faith, as well as the concept of faith itself. His subject was not, he wrote, a history of religion or a defense of any particular belief. Instead, he catalogued some of the British Museum’s most esoteric objects of beauty—from pre-Columbian votive figures to modern Japanese temple offerings—to trace how different societies have envisioned life within the cosmic design. For this exhibition, which shares the book’s name, MacGregor has assembled 200 objects spanning 4,000 years. “This is about how people everywhere have made beautiful things to negotiate their place in time and in the world,” he writes. —Elena Clavarino