Living With The Gods - new BBC Radio 4 and the British Museum partnership unveiled for autumn 2017
This autumn, Radio 4 and the British Museum embark on their fourth public service partnership exploring the role and expression of beliefs in lives and communities through time and around the world.
Published: 10 May 2017
Questions of faith have, in recent decades, moved to the centre of the global political stage - an unexpected return to a centuries-old pattern. But what are the connections between structures of belief, and the structures of society?
Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum, returns to Radio 4 to present this landmark 30-part series, beginning on 23 October 2017.
The British Museum will also present a major exhibition on this theme, opening on 2 November 2017.
Throughout the radio series, Neil draws upon objects and curatorial insights from the British Museum and beyond, with a focus on two or three objects in each programme. As with his last Radio 4 series, the multi-award winning Germany: Memories Of A Nation, Neil also travels to key locations - from experiencing the winter solstice in the ancient passage tomb at Newgrange, Ireland, to the waters of the Ganges in India, from Salisbury Cathedral to the Vatican.
Objects that feature in the series include the Lion-man, a prehistoric ivory sculpture which is determined to be between 35,000 and 40,000 years old; a 1682 noticeboard from Japan, which listed rewards for information on Christian priests, believers and sympathisers; the Lampedusa Cross, made from pieces of a boat that was wrecked off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy in 2013 and the largest silver objects in the world, two silver vessels from Jaipur which were created between 1894 and 1896 for Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II.
Across the series, the focus moves from daily and weekly practices, festivals, pilgrimages and sacrifices, to power struggles and political battles between beliefs, and between faiths and states.
An accompanying book for the partnership will also be published by Allen Lane in the autumn.
Neil MacGregor says: “Questions of faith have, in recent decades, moved to the centre of the global political stage - an unexpected return to a centuries-old pattern. But what are the connections between structures of belief, and the structures of society? In this series, using objects from the British Museum, and talking to experts from many disciplines, we try to explore some of these questions, looking at communities from deep history to the present day, in Europe and around the world”
Gwyneth Williams, Controller of BBC Radio 4 says: “The rational and analytical, enlightenment-understood nature of humanity informs much of modern society. But, of course, as the brilliant Neil MacGregor shows in this wide-ranging and important series, we are so much more than that. Over the last decade, around the world, religious and spiritual awareness has grown and begun to pose a different understanding of what it means to be human. Neil, in this series, shows the depth, complexity and beauty of that rich heritage. As he describes it, 'homo sapiens is also homo religiosus'.
"I am proud to broadcast this series at this time, supported by our valued partner, the British Museum and its inspiring Director, Hartwig Fischer.”
Neil MacGregor and his BBC Radio 4 programmes have become renowned for their unique way of telling stories through objects. This is the fourth collaboration between the British Museum and Radio 4, following on from Germany: Memories Of A Nation (2015), Shakespeare’s Restless World (2012) and A History Of The World In 100 Objects (2010), all produced by the Documentaries Unit in BBC Radio Production.
Living With The Gods will TX from 23 October 2017 over 6 weeks at 9.45am with a repeat at 7.45pm.
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