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Summary: This straight-talking program seeks to understand if religious belief can be reconciled with the changing values of modern life. Archbishop Rowan Williams argues that religion must suit a modern audience by changing the way it communicates its message-a point disputed by conservative historian Jonathan Clark, who believes the forces of modernity should be resisted. Reformist Muslim Shaykh Hamza...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: Although they may not look exactly like their counterparts in China, North America's Chinese Buddhist temples are closely linked to them through symbolism and traditions that go back more than 1,500 years. This video looks at structural symmetry, north/south building orientation, and interior layout; architectural elements like pagodas, columns, and courtyards; the lotus flower as a design...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: This program considers the debt Western civilization owes to paganism, Christianity, and Islam, showing how each religion has influenced the other and how the art of all three continues to exert an effect on the world. Highlighting the lifelike sculptures of ancient Greece that celebrate what it is to be human; the primitive daubs in Roman catacombs, shimmering Byzantine mosaics, and...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009

View online at AVOD

Summary: Transitioning from ancient Jewish narratives to the emergence of the Jesus story, this program follows theologian Robert Beckford as he studies the authorship of the Gospels and subsequent New Testament books. Beckford's itinerary stretches from Jerusalem and Bethlehem to the Turkish ruins of Ephesus, then westward to Rome, London, and Bible-Belt America-underscoring the textual evolution that...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007

View online at AVOD

Summary: No religions have proved more combative than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, despite the fact that they share the same deity-or perhaps because of it. In this program, renowned biblical scholar and religious historian Othmar Keel sheds light on topics such as the volatile historical and cultural contexts in which the Old Testament originated; the protracted struggle of monotheism for...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007

View online at AVOD

Summary: The first installment in the PBS series Jerusalem: Center of the World covers the historical beginnings of the city; its role as the hub of ancient Israel's religion and culture; information on major Old Testament leaders in the context of Jerusalem; the Assyrian conquest of Israel and the Babylonian Exile; post-Exile Jerusalem; and the ministry of Jesus.

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009

View online at AVOD

Summary: This program addresses accusations of the Christian right's distorting influence on America's place in the world. President George W. Bush has actively promoted the idea of faith-based initiatives-government's assistance in combating welfare and social deprivation-prompting charges of First Amendment violations from Democrats and liberals. But President Bush has had to force these initiatives...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: This program summarizes and distills what we have learned about the great religions in this series. Smith's lifetime of experience and study helps him to go beyond the differences between each tradition. He shows how the cultivation of virtues valued by all religions-intelligence, compassion, creativity, truth, beauty, and goodness-can lead to transcendence. In the many faces of God he has...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007

View online at AVOD

Summary: Why are many of today's spiritual seekers looking beyond the world's mainstream religions for fulfillment? And is technology eclipsing the concept of God? This program goes to the heart of those questions through interviews with Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy, as well as leaders of New Age organizations such as the Naropa Institute, the Krishnamurti Foundation, and the...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: One of the most visible issues facing Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is the role of women serving religion. Because of religious and cultural conditioning in the past, women in all three religions have experienced limited roles. Today, though, their voices are being heard. This program traces women's roles in religious tradition and what it means to be a woman in these three religions today....

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: When Lutheranism was born, the need for a new style of church was born along with it. Drawing on architectural examples from Germany and North America, this video connects principles of Lutheranism-for example, that everyone in the congregation should be able to see and hear everything that goes on in a service-to church shape, seating arrangement, and the placement of the altar, the pulpit,...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: By applying her deep knowledge of the Quran and the U.S. Constitution to issues involving democracy and women's rights, Azizah al-Hibri has been instrumental in nurturing an urgently needed interfaith dialogue both at home and abroad. In this program, Bill Moyers and Dr. al-Hibri explore her role as a bridge builder between Muslims and non-Muslims as she advocates conflict resolution through...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

View online at AVOD

Summary: Although Solomon's Temple was destroyed more than 2,500 years ago, it has influenced the design of synagogues ever since. This video uses Jewish houses of worship from around the world and down through the ages to illustrate three basic floor plans and the four elements common to all synagogues: the bimah, the desk, the ark, and the Torah scrolls. Symbols like the Star of David, the menorah,...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: Hindu temples are models of the Hindu universe. And while no two temples are exactly alike, they do share some common architectural features. This video compares modern Hindu temples in North America to the classic northern- and southern-style Indian temples of a thousand years ago. Elements that have survived the centuries-the sikhara tower and the statues of the myriad manifestations of the...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: The second installment in the PBS series Jerusalem: Center of the World focuses on the city's evolution under Roman rule; its historical significance in both Christianity and Islam, past and present; the tensions that exist between Jews and Muslims in modern Jerusalem; and the uncertainties that lie ahead for the planet's most contested piece of land.

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009

View online at AVOD

Summary: On the fifth anniversary of 9/11, 1,800 delegates gathered at the Congress of World Religions in Montreal to spend a week in ecumenical dialogue. This program captures the wisdom of attendees who, speaking from the podium or offstage, address topics ranging from widespread religious fanaticism, the destabilizing action/reaction spiral of violence, and the misuse of religion for political ends...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008

View online at AVOD

Summary: In animism, good and bad spirits exercise an influence on humans. The shaman communes with the spirits in order to heal his tribal constituency. These and other less traditional beliefs, practices, and rituals are the topics of this program. Millenarianism is discussed as a nostalgic belief in a 1,000-year reign of the saints either before, or immediately after, the return of Christ. Astrology...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: The identities of the founders of three major religions-Confucianism, Christianity, and Islam-are studied in this program. The story of Confucianism and how its tenets spread to the Chinese social and political structure includes discussions about the yin (feminine principle) and the yang (masculine principle) The significance of Jesus as a prophet for Muslims, and God incarnate for Christians,...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: Since the dawn of humankind, people have wondered: Is there a sentient power within or beyond our world that is involved in our lives? This program examines the practice of paganism through important prehistoric sites such as the capstone dolmen Pentre Ifan, in Wales; the megaliths of Newgrange, in Ireland; some of the 3,000 standing stones at Carnac, in France; and the Altamira caves in...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: Beginning at the Gargas Caves, France-humankind's first house of worship?-this program seeks to understand why our ancestors began to believe in one or more divinities and how, through the ages, different cultures have expressed that belief. Great mysteries such as death and nature are considered as factors in the evolution of religious faith as Robert Winston, archaeologist Jean Clottes, The...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: Drawing on ancient spirituality, most pagans sum up their chosen form of worship within a modern "green" context. Some follow druidry, others wicca, while a third brand promotes the shamanism of hunter-gatherer cultures. This program sheds light on various examples of pagan devotion put forward by four observers of ancient religious rites and customs. Through straightforward explanations and...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: Much of the world’s most beautiful poetry has been written as reverent testaments of faith and devotion. Accompanied by the Lincoln, Nebraska, St. Paul United Methodist Church choir and organ, the members of the First Poetry Quartet present a joyous selection of poetry “In Praise of the Lord.”

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1978

View online at AVOD

Summary: As hubs of spiritual and scientific activity, monasteries were the information centers of the Middle Ages. This program explores the varying missions-and the often-cloaked thoughts and feelings-of the medieval monk, within the larger context of the era's highly regulated and intrigue-ridden religious life. With a focus on the interaction of European and Arab cultures, as well as the importance...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: Apart from their outward differences in ritual and doctrine, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam share an inward-pointing imperative to know God. In this program, clergy, theologians, and others with religious vocations delve into the esoteric aspects of three of the world's great religions. The use of meditation and contemplation as vehicles for transcending the mundane and drawing closer to the...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

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