The Eye of Faith
Professor Mary Beard broaches the controversial, sometimes dangerous, topic of religion and art. For millennia, art has inspired religion as much as religion has inspired art. Yet there are fundamental problems, which all religions share, in making the divine visible in the human world. How, and at what cost, do you make the unseen seen? Beneath all works of religious art there always lies conflict and risk. The result is often iconoclasm - the destruction of works of art - which Mary believes can lead on to new forms of creativity.
Mary visits sacred sites across the world to examine the contested boundaries between religion and art. She goes to the temple of Angkor Wat, the Tintoretto Crucifixion in Venice, the Buddhist caves of Ajanta and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, as she seeks to break down the conventions that centre some religions around images, while others are seen as hostile to artistic representation. She shows how all faiths (and their artists) face the same fundamental problems of treading a careful line between glorifying gods in images and blaspheming by daring to represent the divine.
She ends at the Parthenon in Athens, a building that has been in turn a pagan temple, a Christian church and a mosque. Now, as a monument to Western civilization itself and a tourist pilgrimage site, she asks us to wonder what we now worship - how far we look at civilization itself with 'the eye of faith'.
Trailer
Recently Updated Shows
Chicago Fire
No job is more stressful, dangerous or exhilarating than those of the Firefighters, Rescue Squad and Paramedics of Chicago Firehouse 51. These are the courageous men and women who forge headfirst into danger when everyone else is running the other way and whose actions make the difference between life and death. These are their stories.
FBI
FBI is a fast-paced drama about the inner workings of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These first-class agents, including Special Agent Maggie Bell and her partner, Special Agent Omar Adom 'OA' Zidan, bring all their talents, intellect and technical expertise on major cases in order to keep New York and the country safe.
Chicago P.D.
District 21 of the Chicago Police Department is made up of two distinctly different groups. There are the uniformed cops who patrol the beat and go head to head with the city's street crimes. And there's the Intelligence Unit, the team that combats the city's major offenses - organized crime, drug trafficking, high profile murders and beyond. These are their stories.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society
Grosse Pointe Garden Society follows four members of a suburban garden club who find their lives intertwined by scandal, mischief and a shared secret - a murder no one wants to talk about. As dark truths begin to rot their lives under the surface, they struggle to remain as perfect as the flowers blooming in their garden above.
Moonshiners
The secret and illegal world of moonshining stretches all across Appalachia raking in a pretty penny for those who choose to shine. Moonshiners will go to unprecedented extremes in their efforts to hide their still sites and cloak their distribution networks, some can hide in plain sight. With new styles of shine being tested and sold there is a king's ransom waiting for those bold enough to grab it. But those who enforce the law are wise to shiner deceptions and more determined than ever to catch them red handed and in the act of making Moonshine. The day of reckoning may be around the corner, but don't sell the Moonshiners short. Each has a keen understanding of how to stay one step ahead of the law in their region, and in this ongoing cat and mouse game you never know who will end up in the trap.