Culham Institute: Programme Listings

This week's

Saturday 6th February
5.00pm		A History of Christianity Reformation. The Amish today are peaceable folk, but five centuries ago their ancestors were seen as some of the most dangerous people in Europe. They were radicals - Protestants - who tore apart the Catholic Church. 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. 'Jesus ascended into heaven', declared Zwingli. 'He's sitting at the right hand of the Father, not on a table here in Zurich.'. (Not broadcast in Scotland).
Sunday 7th February
6.05am		Something Understood The Pearl of Great Price: Mark Tully considers the enduring symbolism of pearls and the mystical properties with which they are endowed in myth and religious tradition.
7.10am		Sunday Ed Stourton discusses the religious and ethical news of the week. Moral arguments and perspectives on stories, both familiar and unfamiliar.
10.00am		The Big Questions Nicky Campbell presents from Michaelston Community College in Cardiff. Taking part in the topical debates is Falkands veteran and author, Simon Weston.
11.30am		Heart and Soul Spiritual Journeys 2: Chetan Bhagat is the author of four blockbuster novels which continue to top bestseller lists in India. At only 35 years old he is one of the biggest-selling English language novelists in India's history. He writes page-turning witty tales about the life of 20-somethings in modern India, in conflict with their parents' values, and living with a sense of isolation and fear of failure. Brought up as a Hindu, Bhagat lists 'Spirituality' as one of his primary interests. In his fiction God may come on the phone to sort out everyone's troubles, but religion is also shown to be divisive and violent when manipulated.
7.00pm		The Bible: A History 3/7. Seven figures from around the world offer their interpretations of the Bible and what it means to them. Conservative MP and Christian Ann Widdecombe (again!) traces the origins of the Ten Commandments and charts their influence over British society for over 2,000 years. Ann also meets with staunch atheists Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens to hear their viewpoint.
Monday 8th February
4.30pm		Beyond Belief In a special programme linked to the BBC's A History of the World series, Ernie Rea and guests discuss the meaning of the flood tablet relating part of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The 7th-century BC tablet from northern Iraq tells the story of the adventures of Gilgamesh, a legendary ruler of Uruk, and his search for immortality. The tablet contains details similar to the story of Noah and the flood in the Hebrew Bible.
9.00pm		Generation Jihad Series in which Peter Taylor investigates the supposed terrorist threat from young Muslim extremists radicalised on the internet - the so-called Generation Jihad. In the first episode, Peter hears from those convicted under Britain's newest anti-terror laws and investigates how some of the most notorious terrorists came to be radicalised.
Tuesday 9th February
3.15am		Something to Think About (Digital radio) Paul Ewing hosts the assembly series for infants offering a broad range of religious, spiritual and social themes, carefully chosen for the age group. Programmes include a story, song, a reflection / prayer and opportunities for discussion. Unit 1: Words of wisdom (Proverbs) This unit focuses on some practical words of wisdom from the book of wisdom in the Bible (Proverbs) and helps children to think what relevance these sayings might have for their lives. 5: What are you like? Theme: that actions speak louder than words; that we show what we are truly like by what we do, not just by what we say.
6.00pm		Decoding the Past Secrets of the Kabbalah. Is the Kabbalah anything more than a celebrity endorsed fashion...? The History Channel reveals all.
Wednesday 10th February
12.30pm		Heart and Soul Spiritual Journeys 3. The poet, artist and film-maker Imtiaz Dharker was born a Muslim in Lahore, Pakistan and educated at a school with a strict Protestant ethic in Glasgow where her family moved to when she was a child. When growing up she began to question and challenge the restrictions of her religion, particularly on women, and poetry was a place where she could do this. The titles of some of her poetry collections reflect the issues she grapples with: Postcards from God, I Speak for the Devil, and The Terrorist at my Table. In her recent collection Leaving Fingerprints, Imtiaz Dharker has been inspired by the Sufi poets and attracted by their belief in the continuous recreation of the self.
9.00pm		Syrian School New series following a year in the life of four schools in Damascus, a high pressure crossroads in the Middle East. Mrs Amal Hassan is the larger-than-life headteacher of Zaki Al Arsouzi Girls' School, intent on teaching her girls to stick up for themselves and 'be free'. How will new pupil Dua'a, who has previously been educated at a conservative Islamic school, get on with the ideas of her new headteacher? At Jaramana Boys' School, Iraqi refugee Yusif must start to overcome his fear of loud bangs.
Friday 12th February
3.00am		Together (Digital radio) Together provides a complete assembly resource for juniors, using material from a broad range of cultural and religious sources. Each programme contains a story, a song and a time for reflection and is suitable for whole school or class use. Unit 2 - Going for goals 5: Working with others Themes: achieving goals; scientific discovery; working as a team to achieve aims; The Royal Society; Dorothy Hodgkin.
11.00am		The Mystery of the Moving Statues In 1985, Ireland was gripped in a religious fervour as worshippers flocked to the village of Balinspittle to see mysterious moving religious statues. Twenty-five years later, Gerry Anderson joins thousands of people gathered at a west of Ireland religious shrine in expectation of seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary. Is Ireland suffering a 'kind of collective nervous breakdown' or does it need 'magical visions' to make sense of difficult times?
2.15pm		Bad Faith - Vengeance Is Mine One in a series of four plays by Peter Jukes about Jake Thorne, a Methodist minister and police chaplain who is battling with his own demons at the same time as trying to resolve the problems of his parishioners. 2: Vengeance Is Mine. Jake gets involved in a restorative justice programme which tries to reconcile a bereaved mother and the woman responsible for killing her daughter.

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