S4C (Firm).

This program explores how, over time, the Jews of the Diaspora have expressed their beliefs through architecture and art in a variety of countries. Architectural sites include Tempio Israelitico, in Rome, a sumptuous example of Italian Jewish architecture; the tiny Cordoba Synagogue; Budapest's Great Synagogue on Dohany Street, a mixture of Byzantine and Moorish design elements; and, in New York City, the largest synagogue in the world: Temple Emanu-el....

In this program, Dennis Wholey has a conversation about Buddhism with Hyon Gak Sunim, guiding teacher of the Seoul International Zen Center at Hwa Gye Sah Temple in Seoul, South Korea. Topics of discussion include the principle of nowness; the meaning of dukkha; the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path; Buddhist resonances with the teachings of Jesus and Socrates; the Buddhist temple experience; how Hyon Gak Sunim, raised a Roman Catholic...

In late 1922, Lenin wrote a secret speech censuring General Secretary Stalin, to be read the following spring at the Twelfth Party Congress. But on March 9, 1923, Lenin suffered a debilitating stroke, and the speech was never given. Featuring Orlando Figes, of Cambridge University; Boris Starkov, of St. Petersburg Academy of Economics; and Yuri Amiantov, chief archivist of the Communist Party, this program focuses on the sequence of events surrounding...

Shot mainly in Lyons, this program looks at the problems faced by the city's mainly young Muslim population as they try to gain acceptance into French society while adapting their religion to break ties with North Africa and the Arabic world. A new kind of Islam is emerging, to which France appears to be reacting with the same old racism and religious intolerance.

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 northern Spain, with their remarkable examples of pagan rock...

On the night of October 24, 1917, a police patrol stopped two men on the streets of St. Petersburg, but failing to recognize their quarry, the police let them pass. One of them-disguised as a tramp-was the future founder and leader of the Soviet Union: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. In this program, Cambridge University's Orlando Figes, author of A People's Tragedy, and Vitaly Startsev, of St. Petersburg Herzen University, investigate the circumstances of...

Of the 27 compositions that comprise the New Testament, 21 are letters: some guide, some warn. This program explores the content as well as authenticity of the various letters attributed to Paul, James, Jude, and Peter. Location footage brings to life Paul's missionary journeys to Antioch, Athens, Corinth, and Rome. The Pastoral Epistles, Gospel of Thomas, letters of Pontius Pilate, and the theological differences between James and Paul are also examined....

Although the shocking murder of Sergei Kirov-the charismatic Party member whose popularity threatened the power base of his friend, Stalin-impacted the lives of millions, the truth behind it has long remained a mystery. Was it motivated by politics, or by something else? In this program, Boris Starkov, of St. Petersburg Academy of Economics, and Yuri Amiantov, chief archivist of the Communist Party, scrutinize the facts surrounding the momentous 1934...

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are generally regarded as the authors of the Gospels. But did they actually write them? And if not, who did, and when? This program focuses on accounts and theories pertaining to the identities of the four Evangelists, as well as the authenticity of the texts attributed to them. Scholars and clerics examine and discuss original manuscripts, such as Codex Sinaiticus, with its Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas,...

In this program, Dennis Wholey has a conversation about Islam with Imam Sayed Hassan al-Qazwini of the Islamic Center of America, in Dearborn, Michigan. Topics of discussion include the meaning of the words Islam, Muslim, and mosque; the two predominant denominations of Islam, Sunni and Shia; the Five Pillars of Islam; the Muslim view of life after death; and the deplorable hijacking of Islam by radical Muslims for use as a tool of hatred and violence....