The Pearl of Great Price
A short daily trip down the lane of Christian History. Looking at the fascinating people and events that have shaped a universal civilisation.
Episodes
369 episodes since 2020
Sep 16 The Bishop and the Serial Killer
Gilles de Rai was one of the earliest serial killers on record, today he was arrested in 1440 after an investigation by the Bishop of Nantes
September 15, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 16
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7:37
Sep 15 The miraculous painting of Dominic de Guzman
Dominic de Guzman founded the Order of Preachers who were hugely responsible with spreading devotion to the Rosary. He has two countries named after him. This is the story of the miraculous painting attributed to him
September 14, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 15
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9:05
Sep 14 Dom Perignon, Monks and Wine Making
Now the most famous champagne is named in his honour, Pierre Perignon was a Benedictine Monk who perfected the method of making sparkling wine
September 13, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 14
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7:58
Sep 13 Dostoevsky and the Brothers Karamazov
The final novel of Dostoevsky is possibly his most famous - the Brothers Karamazov. Wrought out of terrible grief and struggles with faith after the death of his three year old son Aloysha. One of Russia's greatest novelists has pro...
September 12, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 13
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15:22
Sep 12 Richard Challoner - leading in an hostile environment
Bishop Richard Challoner has been called the most influential English Catholic of the 18th Century. It was an uneasy time before Catholic Emancipation laws and least safe in London. The Catholic Church was still illegal after Queen Elizab...
September 11, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 12
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13:30
Sep 11 Defender of Slaves and indigenous peoples - De La Casas
Bishop Bartholomew De La Casas chronicled the terrible atrocities that Spanish colonists carried out on the indigenous people of Central and South America. He was appointed protector of the Indians by the Spanish Legal Establishment, His ...
September 10, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 11
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11:18
Sep 10 Jung, Religion and Individuation
Carl Gustav Jung was one of the most creative thinkers of the 20th Century. The founder of analytical psychology his fascination with religion was life long
September 09, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 10
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13:00
Sep 9 A Theology of Capital - Michael Novak
Today we remember the life of Michael Novak - influential author of the Spirit of Democratic Capitalism. He tweaked Weber's famous Protestant Work Ethic and claimed that free capitalist economies owed more to a Catholic Work Ethic
September 08, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 9
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11:55
Sep 8 Discovering Genes as an opportunity to worship
Francis Collins the director of the Human Genome Project is a devout Christian. we explore his life today
September 07, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 8
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9:21
Sep 7 Ethno-religious riots in Jos, Nigeria
Jos - the capital of the Plateau state in Nigeria's Central Belt is also a flashpoint for tension and violence between the Christian South and the Muslim North
September 06, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 7
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7:32
Sep 6 Blaise Pascale, Salvation & Jansenism and The Index of Prohibited Books
Today we remember how the Vatican placed the Pascals Provincial Letters on the Index. He was a brilliant French polymath, the inventor of the syringe and a promoter of an exaggerated theology called Jansenism
September 05, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 6
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13:24
Sep 5 Cardinal Josef Beran - opposition to totalitarianism in Czechoslovakia
Archbishop Josef Beran of Prague defied both the Nazis and the Communists. He nearly died of typhus in Dachau concentration camp and after the iron curtain fell was placed under 16 years house arrest by the Communists. He was only allowed to le...
September 04, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 5
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8:19
Sep 4 The Murder of a Croatian Abbot and Iconographer
Rafailo Momčilović was a celebrated Orthodox painter (writer) of Icons. He was murdered by the fascist Ustase in Croatia whilst they were a Nazi puppet government
September 03, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 4
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10:27
Sep 3 The Heliand - An Old Norse Life of Christ
The discovery and publication of the Heliand started to explain a historical mystery. How were the warrior Germanic Cultures subsumed into Christendom? This life of Christ in Old Norse is now an invaluable epic poem in a forgotten languag...
September 02, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 3
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9:21
Sep 2 An American Ascetic Orthodox Monk - Seraphim Rose
The translations and summaries of Orthodox wisdom from Fr Seraphim Rose became valued as illegal Samizdat, material banned and shared in a clandestine manner under Communism. We look at the life and conversion of this monk who died at a young a...
September 01, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 2
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11:55
Sep 1 Fr Dowling's Spiritual Exercises and Alcoholics Anonymous
The Friendship between Jesuit Priest Ed Dowling and the founder of the AA Bill Wilson was deep and rich, We look at how Dowling became his advisor and sponsor and how he integrated the Ignatian Exercises into the 12 step programme
August 31, 2024
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Season 9
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Episode 1
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8:25
Aug 31 Grunewald and the Isenheim Altarpiece
Matthias Grunewald masterpiece was commissioned by the Antonite Monks at Isenheim. His depiction of an excruciating crucifixion is now iconic and was commissioned in the context of a monastery that was treating victims of the plague and s...
August 30, 2024
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Season 8
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Episode 31
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8:40
Aug 30 Liverpool, Everton and the Rev Ben Chambers
When Ben Chambers became the Methodist Minister at St Domingo's chapel he started the 'Band of Hope' putting on activities to distract youngsters from drink. Thus Everton FC was born and then its younger brother - the more successful Live...
August 29, 2024
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Season 8
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Episode 30
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8:54
Aug 29 Michael Faraday, non conformism and electricity
Today Michael Faraday induced the first electrical current - this would change civilization. Not formally educated - his enquiring mind was underpinned by his faith - we explore this today
August 28, 2024
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Season 8
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Episode 29
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9:55
Aug 28 Medellin and the start of Liberation Theology
Paul VI opened the Second Conference of Latin American Bishops in Medellin, Colombia. This was influenced by the Brazilian educationalist Paolo Freire and his theory on 'conscientisation'. The conference endorsed the 'preferential o...
August 27, 2024
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Season 8
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Episode 28
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8:44
Aug 27 The Businessman who could be beatified
Enrique Shaw was a successful lifelong businessman from Argentina. As he was dying awaiting for a life saving blood transfusion - hundreds of his employees queued outside the hospital to give him their blood
August 26, 2024
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Season 8
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Episode 27
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7:15
Aug 26 Ivan the Terrible's monk
Adrian of Ondrusuv sacrificed his estate to become a monk after meeting a holy hermit. Ivan the Terrible. a tyrant and cruel leader asked him to be the godfather at his daughters baptism
August 25, 2024
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Season 8
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Episode 26
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8:01
Aug 25 Nietzsche on the murder of God
Friedrich Nietzsche died today in 1900 - one of the most influential intellectuals of the modern era. His relationship with God is much more complex than the famous statement that 'God is dead' Today we explore it and his life
August 24, 2024
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Season 8
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Episode 25
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20:44
Aug 24 Non Conformists and the Book of Common Prayer
Today approximately 2000 puritans resigned their pulpits as deadline came for forced assent to the Book of Common Prayer. We look at the remarkable impact they have had in both Britain and North America
August 23, 2024
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Season 8
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Episode 24
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8:32
Aug 23 Brother Roger, the flowering of ecumenism & his violent death
The Taize ecumenical monastic community in France was founded by Roger Schultz in the ashes of WW2. It still attracts thousands of young people every year as a community of reconciliation. Brother Roger was stabbed in the neck by a young ...
August 22, 2024
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Season 8
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Episode 23
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9:30