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Living with the Gods Episodes

  1.

    Living with Each Other

    Neil MacGregor concludes his series on shared beliefs with a look to the future and hope.

  2. The Search for a State

    Neil MacGregor focuses on the faiths that have sought to establish a state of their own.

  3. Turning the Screw

    Neil MacGregor on attempts by some societies to outlaw beliefs seen as a threat.

  4. Living with No Gods

    Neil MacGregor on societies who banished religion, from revolutionary France to the USSR.

  5. Ruling with the Gods

    Neil MacGregor on ruling with a mandate from the gods - from the UK to Benin to China.

  6. Gods Living Together

    Neil MacGregor focuses on how faiths co-exist in India.

  7. Global Gods, Local Needs

    Neil MacGregor on how gods reach new communities, and how they are adapted and changed.

  8. The Other Side of the Leaf

    Neil MacGregor on communities who believe they are not the sole inhabitants of a landscape

  9. Living with One God

    Neil MacGregor's series continues with a focus on societies and faiths with a single god.

  10. Living with Many Gods

    Neil MacGregor focuses on societies with many gods, including the Romans in Britain.

  11. Rejecting the Image

    Neil MacGregor reflects on faiths which focus on the word rather than the image.

  12. Change Your Life

    Neil MacGregor focuses on images with a purpose - to change the viewer's behaviour.

  13. The Making of Meaning

    Neil MacGregor examines how we come to understand images, with a focus on San rock art.

  14. Replicating the Divine

    Neil MacGregor focuses on Russian Orthodox icons and the Hindu goddess Durga.

  15. The Protectoresses

    Neil MacGregor focuses on Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico, and Artemis of Ephesus.

  16. Festivals

    Neil MacGregor focuses on special gatherings and how they shape a communal identity.

  17. To Be a Pilgrim

    Neil MacGregor focuses on the role of pilgrimage in Christianity, Buddhism and Islam.

  18. Holy Killing

    Neil MacGregor focuses on Aztec human sacrifices, and animal sacrifice in ancient Greece.

  19. Gifts to the Gods

    Neil MacGregor focuses on offerings, including gold consigned to a Colombian lake.

  20. The House of God

    Neil MacGregor on sacred spaces, from a 4,000-year-old temple to a brand new cathedral.

  21. The Power of Song

    Neil MacGregor on the role of distinctive dress and communal song in weekly gatherings.

  22. Lines of Communication

    Neil MacGregor focuses on prayer, an individual activity that is also profoundly communal.

  23. Becoming an Adult

    Neil MacGregor focuses on rites of passage, including a hair-binding ritual from Vanuatu.

  24. Mother and Child

    Neil MacGregor focuses on the protection of the newly-born and their mothers.

  25. Living with the Dead

    Neil MacGregor's series continues with a focus on our relationship with the dead.

  26. Dependence or Dominion?

    Neil MacGregor focuses on our relationship with the natural world and seasonal changes.

  27. Here Comes the Sun

    Neil MacGregor experiences the winter solstice in the passage tomb at Newgrange, Ireland.

  28. Water of Life and Death

    Neil MacGregor on water's purifying powers, and the significance of the Ganges for Hindus.

  29. Fire and State

    Neil MacGregor on the fire of Vesta in Ancient Rome, and the Parsi fire temple in Gujarat.

  30. The Beginnings of Belief

    Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs begins with the Lion Man.

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