The Pearl of Great Price

Send us Fan MailThe infamous Salem Witch trials are now understood to be a bout of Puritan Mass Hysteria - and some historians argue lead to the end of experimental theocracies in the USA 

Send us Fan MailTurkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca  came millimeters from killing John Paul II today by shooting him four times at close range in St Peters Square.  We look at the theories about why it happened and their relationship afterwards 

Send us Fan MailOn a thanksgiving pilgrimage to Fatima Pope John Paul II was attacked by a ultra-conservative priest brandishing a bayonet. Why was the Pope there in the first place? What was he giving thanks for? 

Send us Fan MailWe look at the life of Comgall, his student Columbanus and the distinctive form of Christian Community that emerged in Ireland.  We also look at how that had shaped the universal church. 

Send us Fan MailThe greatest Protestant theologian of the 20th Century, today we look at the life and thought of Karl Barth 

Send us Fan MailToday we remember the killing of Aldo Moro, former prime minister of Italy and how it tested the faith of an old friend Pope Paul VI 

Send us Fan MailA story of the savage French Revolution - its attempt to de-Christianise France and how a humble priest rebuilt the spiritual lives of his parishioners after. Jean Vianney would become the patron saint of priests

Send us Fan MailAt the turn of the Millennium the first Slavic Pope, John Paul II made bug steps towards reconciliation with the Orthodox Church. This covers his visit to Romania

Send us Fan MailIts been described as the most stolen piece of art, the first great oil painting of the Northern Renaissance. A complex multi-panelled painting laced with Catholic Theology. Recovered by the famous monuments men in the second world war after Hitler had hid it in a salt mine. 

Send us Fan MailToday we look at infamous Scopes Monkey Trial and the attempt to overthrow the Butler Act which prohibited teaching evolution in schools.  Also how the anti-evolution movement evolved into a Christian Science movement

Send us Fan MailToday Alexander VI, the infamous Borgia Pope, issued a papal bull which drew up a line of demarcation dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal

Send us Fan MailToday we look at the birth of Uriah Smith and Seventh Day Adventism.  Emerging out of a failed prophecy of the End of the World we look at his writings about the Book of Revelation. 

Send us Fan MailThe last polymath of the renaissance era was Fr Antanasius Kircher SJ. Among his many accomplishments he was the first to look at the blood of bubonic plague victims under a microscope and to realise that the 'pestis' was contagious. He suggested Quarantine, wearing masks and burning the clothes of victims. 

Send us Fan MailPerhaps the Westerner who did more to shape thinking about Africa then anyone else. Both a father of European Colonialism and a forerunner of African Nationalism. He died today and this is his story. 

Send us Fan MailThe Polish Mystic Faustina Kowalska was declared a saint in the presence of 200,000 people today and the first Divine Mercy Sunday was celebrated worldwide.  We look at her short but spiritually intense life.  How the devotion to the divine mercy has spread around the world. Finally we also look at the evil that was perpetrated a few years later, in the neighbouring parts of Poland.  A Deep Darkness to contrast the luminous message of Divine Mercy. 

Send us Fan MailThe teenage illiterate peasant girl who saved France, inspired by courage and faith.  We look at some of her story today, how she found herself in the corridors of power.  A totemic figure that turned the tide in the Hundred Years War, she was eventually caught and executed,  The Vatican would overturn the ecclesial show trial 40years later and eventually declare her a Saint. 

Send us Fan MailWhat essentially became the archetypal morality tale for Britain's period of Naval Supremacy. Most of the mutineers died fighting each other on Pitcairn Island, the last men standing repented and using the Ships Bible rebuilt their lives and converted the islanders.

Send us Fan MailSome people describe it as the greatest poem in the English Language.  Today we look at the lament 'Paradise Lost' - by the idealistic Puritan John Milton. At the end of Cromwell's Commonwealth, and the restoration of the monarchy, impoverished and embittered today he sold the copywrite to his great poem

Send us Fan MailWas William Shakespeare sending hidden messages to Catholics, at a time when in England to be a Catholic could be equated to treason?  We look at the evidence and examine the context today, on the day he was baptised in the Church of England in Stratford upon Avon. 

Send us Fan MailWe look at the life of Tiverton Preedy and the influence of the movement 'Muscular Christianity' on him.  He founded Barnsley FC who are now owned by a consortium of Chinese and Indian businessmen, and baseball legend Billy Beane. 

Send us Fan MailAugustine of Hippo was one of the finest minds of the ancient world and became the preeminent Chruch Father. Today we mark his late baptism and the remarkable impact he has had on Christian thought and the Western Mind 

Send us Fan MailToday we look at the significance of St George, and how the chapel named after him at Windsor became the home of the Order of the Garter.  One of the most prestigious and longest-lasting chivalric orders. 

Send us Fan MailWe look at how 'In God we Trust' eventually replaced 'ex pluribus unum' as the motto of the USA.  How the trauma of post-civil war destruction started to it being inscribed on coins. 

Send us Fan MailToday we look at Terry Eagleton's Dwight H Terry Lectures at Yale University in 2009. With the title 'Faith and Fundamentalism: Is belief in Richard Dawkins necessary for Salvation? We also analyse the phenomenon of the so-called New Atheism

Send us Fan MailHe has been described as the greatest American Theologian. We look at Johnathan Edwards and his role in the Christian revivals which swept across the UK and its colonies in the 18th Century. Called the Great Awakening in America or the Evangelical Revival in Britain. 

Send us Fan MailPope Pius VII lived under the shadow of Napoleon Bonaparte, which led to him being crowned with a papier-mache papal tiara. Today we look at the story. 

Send us Fan MailThis is the story of one of the most popular saints  in England, who was key in nation-building as the Anglo-Saxons emerged from centuries of Viking conquest

Send us Fan MailDescribed as the bloodiest civil war of all time, with casualties in their tens of millions.  Led by a self-proclaimed prophet who believed he was the Brother of Jesus Christ - we look at the Taiping Rebellion

Send us Fan MailCalled a prince amongst preachers, Surgeon attracted huge crowds to his services in London. After a tragic stampede in a temporary church we remember today how he moved to the purpose-built Metropolitan Tabernacle 

Send us Fan MailClaiming to be the largest and oldest womans charitable group we look at the founding and the work of the Mormon Relief Society 

Send us Fan MailWe look at the story of Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross.  What inspired him?  Who signed the first Geneva Convention? What are the controversies around the Emblem used for the Red Cross? 

Send us Fan MailCardinal Manning was unusually a widow, and became very influential in Catholic Social Teaching - today we find out why. 

Send us Fan MailToday we remember the journalist Morgan Stanleys success in finding the lost explorer Dr Livingstone.   And why did he become so famous after his death? 

Send us Fan MailGeorge Berkeley, a father of Empiricism, and Irish Bishop and endower of Yale University lived a fascinating life,  We look at his ideas and his legacy in this podcast. 

Send us Fan MailToday we remember a fire in Serrmapore which destroyed some priceless translations from Sanskrit but brought international fame to the work of William Carey. Covering the founding of the Baptist Missionary Society and the first degree-awarding university in India

Send us Fan MailToday we remember how James Earl Ray confessed to the murder of Rev King.  Todays pod takes a brief look at Kings life, his theology and his legacy

Send us Fan MailA chilling story of the death of 40 Roman Soldiers in Lesser Armenia, in 320. They froze to death rather than renounce their Christian faith.  WIdely celebrated in the Orthodox World as martyrs. 

Send us Fan MailWe look at today's speech by President Reagan to an Evangelical Congress in Florida.  It has gone down in history as the 'Evil Empire Speech' and we examine the context of this and the evangelical base to the Republican Party

Send us Fan MailWe look at the first mass in the vernacular celebrated by Paul VI today in 1965.  The roots of the reform and the consequences since. 

Send us Fan MailToday we remember the birth of possibly the greatest artist of all time, Michelangelo.  We look at his work through four classics, the two statues of Pieta and David, the frescos of the Sistine Chapel and the Dome of St Peters in Rome.  And we also look at some controversial theories about his genius. 

Send us Fan MailToday we look at the restless life of English missionary and linguist Roger Williams, and how he established the first Baptist Church in Rhodes Island

Send us Fan MailToday King Charles II granted a royal charter to Quaker William Pen making him the largest (non-royal) landowner in the world.  Thus began his holy experiment of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. 

Send us Fan MailToday we look at the life of Dominican Hugh of St Cher, his work on producing the first concordance - a milestone in Biblical Studies,  and also the first attempt to divide the Bible into chapters

Send us Fan MailToday we look at the remarkable life of John Wesley, the beginning of Methodism and the death of 'the most loved man in Britain' 

Send us Fan MailWe look at the life work of Methodist William Oldham, his work in mapping India and setting up Singapore's most prestigious school

Send us Fan MailToday we remember the founding of the Society of the Holy Cross, SSC by Charles Fuge Lowder, an Anglican order which worked in the slums of big cities

Send us Fan MailToday we remember the founding of the Labour party and the Methodist lay preacher Kier  Hardy

Send us Fan MailToday we look at the birth of Charles Sheldon, his publication of In His Steps and the birth of the What Would Jesus Do movement 

Send us Fan MailA sad story of the mass suicide of 200 pagan Lithuanians defending themselves against the Teutonic Knights today in 1336 

Send us Fan MailThe son of a rich silk merchant makes a radical decision to embrace poverty, the Story of Francis of Assisi.