Living With The Gods

By BBC Radio 4

History

What's Living With The Gods about?

Neil MacGregor explores the role and expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world. Produced in partnership with the British Museum.

5.0

150 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

Living with Each Other

12.01.2017

Neil MacGregor concludes his series on how shared beliefs have shaped societies. He began with the Lion Man, an object created 40 000 years ago, and now reflects on the present, on the future and on hope. Producer Paul Kobrak ...

Living With The Gods episodes:

12.01.2017 Living with Each Other Neil MacGregor concludes his series on how shared beliefs have shaped societies. He began with the Lion Man, an object created 40 000 years ago, and now reflects on the present, on the future and on hope. Producer Paul Kobrak ...
11.30.2017 The Search for a State Neil MacGregor continues his series on shared beliefs with a look at the attempts of some faiths to establish a state of their own. An over-printed coin from 2nd century Jerusalem tells of the failed attempt of Shimon bar Kokhba ...
11.29.2017 Turning the Screw Neil MacGregor continues his series on shared beliefs with a focus on those faiths seen as a threat to the state. A plain board, to be found on a 17th-century Japanese roadside, offers generous rewards to anyone who informs on ...
11.28.2017 Living with No Gods Neil MacGregor focuses on societies which aimed to live without religious beliefs. Neil examines a revolutionary clock, from around 1795, created in the wake of the French Revolution, and designed to mark a new way of living: in an age ...
11.27.2017 Ruling with the Gods Neil MacGregor continues his series on shared beliefs with a focus on earthly rulers and the gods. Queens and kings may be priests of the gods, or their representatives. They may be incarnations - or even gods themselves. Or the ...
11.24.2017 Gods Living Together Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on how faiths co-exist in India. Producer Paul Kobrak Produced in partnership with the British Museum Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.
11.23.2017 Global Gods, Local Needs Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on gods can reach new communities, and how those communities can then adapt and change the faiths. Producer Paul Kobrak Produced in partnership with the British ...
11.22.2017 The Other Side of the Leaf Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on societies who believe that they share the landscape with co-inhabitants who are not visible but are present. Such belief systems can be found in places ...
11.21.2017 Living with One God Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a focus on societies and faiths with a single god. Using objects from both ancient Babylon and ancient Egypt, Neil examines how one god could become central to ...
11.20.2017 Living with Many Gods Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a focus on societies living with many gods. In the mid-1840s, a Roman earthenware jar was dug from the earth near Felmingham Hall in Norfolk. Inside, excavators found ...
11.16.2017 Rejecting the Image Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a reflection on faiths which focus on the word rather than the image. A striking cobalt blue mosque lamp, from around 1570, shows an Islamic way of doing ...
11.16.2017 Change Your Life Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on images which seek to change the viewer's behaviour. A small coloured wood-cut, created in the Netherlands around 1500, offers a particularly gruesome rendering of Christ's ...
11.15.2017 The Making of Meaning Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on how we come to comprehend sacred images. Our understanding of the rock art created by the San people of southern Africa over many centuries is ...
11.14.2017 Replicating the Divine Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on the making of divine images. For the painter of a Russian religious icon, the paramount purpose is the continuation of a tradition, in which the ...
11.13.2017 The Protectoresses Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues this week with a focus on images. In Mexico, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe came not from the hand of an artist, but was directly given from ...
11.10.2017 Festivals Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on festivals, and their role in shaping a communal identity. Producer Paul Kobrak Produced in partnership with the British ...
11.09.2017 To Be a Pilgrim Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on pilgrimage, and its role in Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. Producer Paul Kobrak Produced in partnership with the British ...
11.08.2017 Holy Killing Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on sacrifice.. Displayed in the British Museum is a finely-crafted Aztec knife, dating from around 1500, with a richly-decorated ...
11.07.2017 Gifts to the Gods Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on offerings. High in the Andes in Colombia, the indigenous Muisca population consigned highly-wrought gold figurines to the waters ...
11.06.2017 The House of God Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a focus on the creation of sacred spaces, built for encountering or engaging with the divine. Stone tablets in the British Museum detail how a temple was designed ...
11.03.2017 The Power of Song Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time. He focuses on a Kirchenpelz or 'church fur' - a sheepskin coat made in the late 19th century in Transylvania, now ...
11.02.2017 Lines of Communication Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time. He focuses on prayer, reflecting on how this most highly individualized of activities is also a profoundly communal act, with objects ...
11.01.2017 Becoming an Adult Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time. He focuses on rites of passage, marking the transition from childhood to adulthood, including a lock of bound hair, from the ...
10.31.2017 Mother and Child Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time. He focuses on how societies and communities seek to protect the newly-born and their mothers, including the role of St Margaret ...
10.30.2017 Living with the Dead Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a reflection on our relationship with the dead. In the British Museum, he focuses on mummy bundles from Peru, skeletons wrapped in textiles made of llama wool or ...
10.27.2017 Dependence or Dominion? Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time. He focuses on the natural world and seasonal change: the Yupik people of Alaska depend on the seal, and ancient Egyptians ...
10.26.2017 Here Comes the Sun Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world, and focuses on light. He experiences the sunrise whilst inside the monumental stone passage tomb at Newgrange, Ireland, a structure older than Stonehenge or ...
10.26.2017 Water of Life and Death Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on water, including a visit to the Ganges at Varanasi, India. In Islam, Christianity and Judaism, water is an ...
10.25.2017 Water of Life and Death Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on water, including a visit to the Ganges at Varanasi, India. In Islam, Christianity and Judaism, water is an ...
10.24.2017 Fire and State Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time. Many societies have seen the mesmerizing phenomenon of fire as a symbol of the divine. Neil MacGregor focuses on sacred fire ...
10.23.2017 The Beginnings of Belief Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum, begins this series about the role and expression of shared beliefs with the Lion Man, a small ivory sculpture which is about 40 000 years old. The figure has a human body ...

Living With The Gods

What's Living With The Gods about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Living With The Gods episodes:

Living with Each Other

The Search for a State

Turning the Screw

Living with No Gods

Ruling with the Gods

Gods Living Together

Global Gods, Local Needs

The Other Side of the Leaf

Living with One God

Living with Many Gods

Rejecting the Image

Change Your Life

The Making of Meaning

Replicating the Divine

The Protectoresses

Festivals

To Be a Pilgrim

Holy Killing

Gifts to the Gods

The House of God

The Power of Song

Lines of Communication

Becoming an Adult

Mother and Child

Living with the Dead

Dependence or Dominion?

Here Comes the Sun

Water of Life and Death

Water of Life and Death

Fire and State

The Beginnings of Belief

Other shows like Living With The Gods: