Becoming an Adult

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

• 14 mins

Lines of Communication

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

• 14 mins

The Power of Song

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

• 14 mins

The House of God

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

• 14 mins

Gifts to the Gods

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

• 14 mins

Holy Killing

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

• 14 mins

To Be a Pilgrim

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

• 14 mins

Festivals

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

• 14 mins

The Protectoresses

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

• 14 mins

Replicating the Divine

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

• 14 mins

The Making of Meaning

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

• 14 mins

Change Your Life

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

• 14 mins

Rejecting the Image

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

• 14 mins

Living with Many Gods

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

• 14 mins

Living with One God

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

• 14 mins

The Other Side of the Leaf

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

• 14 mins

Global Gods, Local Needs

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

• 14 mins

Gods Living Together

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

• 14 mins

Ruling with the Gods

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

• 14 mins

Living with No Gods

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

• 14 mins

Turning the Screw

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

• 14 mins

The Search for a State

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

• 14 mins

Living with Each Other

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

• 14 mins