Sun Myung Moon was the son of farmers who converted from Confucianism to Christianity when he was about 10 years old. As he grew older, he became so devoted to his religion that he founded his first church, Kwang-Ya, in his mid-twenties. A decade later, he would found the Unification Church and develop it into a multi-billion dollar global business empire.
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Nov 2022
Waco Siege & Branch Davidians Pt. 1
On February 28th, 1993, ATF agents raided a compound in Waco, Texas, belonging to a religious group known as the Branch Davidians. A 51-day standoff ensued, ending in a violent siege. Eighty-one people lost their lives, many of them children — but to this day, no one knows which ... Show More
33m 53s
Aug 2020
“Prince Prosperous” Pt. 1: Khun Sa
By the early 1950s, the teenaged Khun Sa was already a militia leader in war-torn northeast Burma (present-day Myanmar). Over the next decade, his power as a warlord only increased. When the Burmese government came to him with an offer of allyship, he set himself up to become the ... Show More
39m 45s
Dec 2023
104. How Persian Religion Changed the World
Three great religions have come out of Persia and all of them have influenced world history. First there was Zoroastrianism, the first monotheistic religion, which had significant influence over Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Then there was Mithraism. It began in Persia but, t ... Show More
52m 31s
Apr 2015
Albert L. Park, “Building a Heaven on Earth: Religion, Activism, and Protest in Japanese Occupied Korea” (U of Hawaii Press,)
Christians, like other religious people, have to manage the relationship between their belief in supernatural forces and an afterlife on one side, and how those beliefs impact their daily life on the other. This was especially difficult for Korean Protestant Christians (and membe ... Show More
1h 20m
Aug 2021
Daryl R. Ireland, "John Song: Modern Chinese Christianity and the Making of a New Man" (Baylor UP, 2020)
Dubbed the "Billy Sunday of China" for the staggering number of people he led to Christ, John Song has captured the imagination of generations of readers. His story, as it became popular in the West, possessed memorable, if not necessarily true, elements: Song was converted while ... Show More
1h 44m
Mar 2024
129. Ashoka: The Great Buddhist Emperor of India
Ruling in the 3rd century BC, Ashoka was one of India’s greatest ever rulers. Under his rule, the Mauryan Empire grew into the largest empire India had ever seen. Its capital, Pataliputra was a dazzling, glorious, cosmopolitan city that was eleven times larger than Athens. After ... Show More
50m 47s