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Protestantism The Evangelical Explosion

   2011    Culture
Diarmaid MacCulloch traces the growth of an exuberant expression of faith that has spread across the globe - Evangelical Protestantism. Today, it is associated with conservative politics, but the whole story is distinctly more unexpected. It is easily forgotten that the evangelical explosion has been driven by a concern for social justice and the claim that one could stand in a direct emotional relationship with God. It allowed the Protestant faith to burst its boundaries from its homeland in Europe. In America, its preachers marketed Christianity with all the flair and swashbuckling enterprise of American commerce. In Africa, it converted much of the continent by adapting to local traditions, and now it is expanding into Asia. But is Korean Pentecostalism and its message of prosperity in the here and now an adaptation too far?
Series: A History of Christianity

Reformation

   2011    History
In the fourth part of the series, Diarmaid MacCulloch makes sense of the Reformation, and of how a faith based on obedience and authority gave birth to one based on individual conscience. He shows how Martin Luther wrote hymns to teach people the message of the Bible, and how a tasty sausage became the rallying cry for Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli to tear down statues of saints, allow married clergy and deny that communion bread and wine were the body and blood of Christ.
Series: A History of Christianity

Religulous

   2008    Culture
Political humorist and author Bill Maher travels around the globe interviewing people about God and religion. Known for his analytical skills, wit and commitment to never pulling a punch, Maher brings his characteristic honesty to an unusual spiritual journey.
Muslims, Jews and Christians of many kinds pass before his jaundiced eye. He goes to a Creationist Museum in Kentucky, which shows that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time 5000 years ago. Maher speaks to a rabbi in league with Holocaust deniers. He talks to a Muslim musician who preaches hatred of Jews. Maher finds the unlikeliest of believers and, in a certain Vatican priest, he even finds an unlikely skeptic.

Shaolin Bootcamp

   2012    Culture
Hollywood actor Jason Scott Lee has been a student of Bruce Lee's martial art Jeet Kune Do for 20 years and in Secrets Of Shaolin. He fulfils his lifelong dream of joining the institution that invented kung fu - Shaolin Temple. In an intense two-week kung fu bootcamp, Jason will not only discover Shaolin's centuries old secrets of turning the human body into the ultimate weapon, but also experience the spiritual effects of it's Zen Buddhist practices. Secrets of Shaolin promises to be a stunning, action-packed insight into the world's most famous martial art and a spectacular celebration of the place, people and culture that has inspired generations of fans.

Star of Bethlehem

   2013    Science
A strange light in the heavens. The star that signals the birth of Jesus. Is it faith, fable, or fact? The star of Bethlehem is hard to identify thousands of years later. Can we decode the secret of the star with the science of the universe? What was it? Where did it come from? And will it return?
Discover an explanation by various astronomers and religion historians of what the star of Bethlehem really was based on available evidence.
Series: The Universe Season 7

The Awakening: 1975

   2020    Culture
The series is a thorough examination of the infamous UFO cult through the eyes of its former members and loved ones. What started in 1975 with the disappearance of 20 people from a small town in Oregon, ended in 1997 with the largest suicide on US soil and changed the face of modern new age religion forever.
In the first episode, Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite begin to recruit individuals interested in end-of-the-world Christianity, new age religion, and UFOs - but the disappearance of new members soon drives media attention and family concerns.
Series: Heavens Gate