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...

On October 9, 1967, Ernesto "Che" Guevara was summarily executed. After his mangled body was dumped in an anonymous grave, his killers hoped he would be forgotten-but Che's enemies had underestimated him. In this program, Edward George, of the University of Bristol; General Gary Prado, the officer in charge of Che's capture; and nurse Susan Osinaga, who cleaned Che's dead body, discuss Che's appeal as a Communist martyr, probe the contradictions in...

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....

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...

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...

In this program, Dennis Wholey has a conversation about the Greek Orthodox Church with Father Stephen Callos of Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Topics of discussion include primary distinctions between Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholicism; similarities and differences among the Greek, Russian, and other Orthodox Churches; the Orthodox view of the incarnation of Jesus; and marriage and celibacy...

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...

This program focuses on the Dutch Liberal Jewish Community, led by Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp, whose father helped to rebuild Judaism in Holland after the Holocaust. Through interviews with Jewish families, the program records the dilemmas faced by young and old as they try to come to terms with the Holocaust today. How could God allow such a thing to happen, and can Jews trust their Gentile neighbors?

Throughout this century, the Muslim population of southeastern Europe has been hounded and periodically massacred. Communist Bulgaria continued the pre-Communist policy of "ethnic cleansing" (a misnomer, since many of the victims are Slavs), attempting to "Bulgarize" its Turkish-speaking Muslims. After a particularly tense time in 1989, Muslims are once again permitted to practice their religion openly, but after decades of official repression, knowledge...