 
  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
360 episodes
    Oct 31 Catholics and Lutherans agree on Justification
The understanding of justification by faith alone was the theological faultline at the heart of the reformation. Today almost 5oo years later a joint statement was released in agreement between Lutherans and Catholics 
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 31
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          6:52
        
       
    Oct 30 Nat Turners Slave Rebellion
The Slave Nat Turner believed that he was divinely inspired to lead an uprising of slaves in Virginia. He would be killed for his efforts 
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 30
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          7:22
        
       
    Oct 29 St Andrew, his relics and Scotland
Today we look at the story of St Regulus being shipwrecked in Scotland with relics of St Andrew. How he became the national saint and the story behind his saltire 
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 29
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          9:32
        
       
    Oct 28 The Good Pope and the Cuban Missile Crisis
John XXIII was born into a simple farming family and was proud of his humble beginnings.  He Was mourned after his death as 'Il Papa Buono' and mas made Time Magazine Man of the year after his intervention in the Cuban Missile Crisis ...
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 28
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          11:18
        
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    Oct 27 Constantine, the Edict of Milan and The True Cross
Constantine was the first Roman Emperor to be baptised a Christian, This was an incredible turnaround after many  terrible persecutions of the Roman authorities, killing tens of thousands of  Christians. We look at the spiritual exper...
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 27
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          13:59
        
       
    Oct 26 Alfred the Great - Christianity unites England
When Alfred defeated Guthrum at the Battle of Eddington and then proceeded to be his mentor and oversee his baptism - England was at a turning point. From Being the embattled King Of Wessex he oversaw the beginning of the  unification of E...
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 26
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          8:41
        
       
    Oct 25 Chaucer and his Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer's stories of pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St Thomas a Becket have lead to him being called the father of English Literature, We look at his life, his writing and his ambiguous relationship with the church 
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 25
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          8:42
        
       
    Oct 24 Chartres Cathedral - Jewel of Civilisation
A series of churches and cathedrals have stood in Chartres since the 4th Century. A testament to resilience and perseverance, the current one dating back nearly eight hundred years is a UNESCO world heritage site. Its stained glass are some of ...
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 24
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          12:50
        
       
    Oct 23 Chang Kei Shek is baptised in China
Chang Kei Shek was the longest leader of China in the 20th Century - although his later years he spent in Taiwan - escaping from the Communists.  Today we remember his baptism due to his mother-in-law
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 23
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          10:42
        
       
    Oct 22 Tillich - God as the Ground of Being
Paul Tillich became on of Protestantism's most influential thinkers of the 20th Century. His life and career had two parts in Germany and the America. Scarred by his experience of World War One he had to flee the country when Hitler came to pow...
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 22
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          8:30
        
       
    Oct 21 Gerard Manley Hopkins - The priest who was a poet
Hopkins has been described as the most influential Victorian Poet with his creative us of language and sprung rhythm.  A Jesuit priest - he had a lifelong struggle balance his poetic impulses with his religious ones
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 21
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          11:05
        
       
    Oct 20 Schillebeeckx and the empty tomb
Edward Schillebeeckx was a provocative and influential theologian. His book on Christology today lead him to be invited to Rome to answer some questions about what he was teaching about the resurrection
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 20
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          10:51
        
       
    Oct 19 Solidarity, Poland and the assassination of a priest
Today in1984  the Polish priest Jerzy Popiełuszko was beaten to death by three Security Police officers.  He was a friend of Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement who overthrew the communists
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 19
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          7:53
        
       
    Oct 18 Caravaggio and the Mafia
Caravaggio was one of the greatest artists of the European Renaissance. He also lead one of the wildest lives.  We look at how one of his paintings was stolen in Palermo. We also look at what motivated him and his turbulent life
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 18
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          25:35
        
       
    Oct 17 The Nobel Peace Prize and Mother Teresa
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the most prestigious prizes in the world. We look at famous Christians who were awarded it , as well as who didn't and the speech given by the first nun to be awarded it - Mother Teresa
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 17
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          10:09
        
       
    Oct 16 The Quantam Physicist who became a priest - Polkinghorne
John Polkinghorne believed that science and religion provided a binocular vision of the truth. He left a prestigious post in Physics and Cambridge University to become an Anglican priest
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 16
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          14:12
        
       
    Oct 15 How we measure time - Pope Gregory's Calendar
The Gregorian calendar is now almost universally used. This is the story about how Pope Gregory promulgated it after some revisions were made of the Julian Calendar which slightly overestimated the solar orbit of planet Earth
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 15
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          8:10
        
       
    Oct 14 Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janiero
We remember how today the public where given access to this iconic statue of Christ overlooking Rio. With his arms stretched out the statue can be seen anywhere in the city of 7 million people by anyone, 
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 14
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          9:36
        
       
    Oct 13 The miracle of Fatima as witnessed by 50,000
Today in 1917 reports went around the world of a miracle of the Sun that was witnessed by a crowd of 50.000 in Portugal.  The 'miracle' had been predicted by three peasant children from Fatima who had been seeing a 'Lady of the Rosary' who...
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 13
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          14:25
        
       
    Oct 12 God and Humanity - Analogia Entis, Erich Przywara's universal rhythm
The discussion between Karl Barth and the Polish Jesuit Erich Przywara about the analogy of being - mortal humanities relationship to God the immortal creator, has been one of the richest between Catholic and Protestant theologians in modern ti...
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 12
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          11:07
        
       
    Oct 11 Vatican 2 Opens
The Second ecumenical council of the Vatican was attended by between 2,100 and 2,300 bishops from all over the world,  at its different sessions that lasted 4 years. It was the biggest ever council and set the direction of the church in th...
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 11
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          14:57
        
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    Oct 10 Carlo Acutis - the first millenial saint
15 year old computer geek Carlo Acutis died of Luekemia in 2005 - he was beatified in 2020. Thousands of people visit his shrine in Assisi every day. Could he become the first millenial saint? 
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 10
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          7:42
        
       
    Oct 9 Fr Gabrielle Fallopio and Fallopian tubes
The man who ushered anatomy into the renaissance age after stagnating with 1300 years of Galen was Fr Gabrielle Fallopio.  He gave his name to the Fallopian tube, 
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 9
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          7:16
        
       
    Oct 8 Japans Schindler's List
Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat stationed in Lithuania during the war, He had converted to Christianity for his first marriage - joining the Orthodox Church. He saved thousands of Jews by issuing them visas and this was only discovered ...
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 8
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          10:27
        
       
    Oct 7 Mother Teresa - sign of contradiction
Gallup claimed that she was by far the most admired person of the century after polling, and she won numerous prizes including the Nobel Peace Prize. She attracted thousands of young people to help her - but she also attracted some fierce, and ...
        
          
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            Season 10
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            Episode 7
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          13:40
        
      