San Antonio College Library

This volume presents the stories of the world's shamans and medicine men, prophets and founders of religion. The spiritual techniques, mystical experiences and religious beliefs collected here are evidence of the practice of religion, and of its vitality, in different times and places throughout history.

"This book deals with a twofold problem: first, what is religion and, secondly, how far can one talk of the history of religion?" Thus Mircea Eliade, Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago, states the purpose of this unusual and comprehensive study. Central to his argument is the belief that religious phenomena must be studied as religious-that is, efforts to explain religion solely in terms of its sociological, economic,...

This program portrays the Crusades as a response to the rapid rise of Islam. It looks at various orders of Christian monks and their role in the preservation of religious, artistic, and cultural aspects of civilization. The Inquisition-the Church's response to the rise of heresy and the practice of witchcraft and magic in the Middle Ages-illustrates the ultimate in religious intolerance which still exists today.

This program traces the history of the Protestant Reformation, the path of its founder, Martin Luther, and the subsequent rise of sects including Calvinism, Anglicanism, Presbyterianism, and Methodism. Topics discussed include the Council of Trent, the renewal of Catholicism in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the rise of religious orders founded by St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. Vincent de Paul.

Part one of this program, presented against a backdrop of Gothic architecture and pre-Raphaelite art, asks whether religion and science can coexist in a post-Darwinian world. Are Creation and Evolution mutually exclusive? Part two focuses on the questions raised by the global movement toward social equality. Must Christianity adapt to survive, and if so, do issues like female priests and homosexuality threaten to rob it of its scriptural authority?...

Part one of this program highlights the Great Schism. The Papacy's move to achieve political independence and the flowering of the Renaissance are presented as well-along with the violent opposition to the new papal politics and the humanism that was remaking God in man's image. Part two plots out the religious revolt sparked by the sale of indulgences, from Martin Luther's 95 Theses, to the Inquisition, to the Protestantism of John Calvin. The spread...

In this ABC News special program, Peter Jennings tells the story of Jesus of Nazareth, Paul the Apostle, and Christianity in its first decades. When Rome ruled the world from Europe to the heart of the Middle East, the caesars were gods and most people knew nothing about a young Jewish peasant named Jesus of Nazareth. After Jesus' death and resurrection, Paul becomes the main character in the Bible story about the birth of Christianity. Trace the...

Part one of this program traces the spread of Christianity via the Puritans to North America. Victims of intolerance in the Old World, the emigres swiftly proved intolerant of others in the New World, leaving it to the Quakers to promote the religious freedom later associated with the United States. Part two outlines the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, the Methodism of John Wesley, and the concept of human rights. How had the un-Christian institution...

Part one of this program documents both the papal reforms that severed the ties between the Church and wealthy Roman families and the rift between Rome and Constantinople. Efforts to reconcile differences in doctrine, clerical practice, and political influence ended in the excommunication of Constantinople's Patriarch. Part two outlines the first four Crusades, in which Jerusalem was won and lost and Byzantium fell to the swords of its own Christian...