Curated playlist
Angelic visionaries
- JesusJesus left no writings of his own. Almost everything known about him comes from accounts by others.
- MosesMichelangelo's statue of Moses has horns because of a mistranslation. A Latin Bible turned ray of light into horned.
- Thomas AquinasThomas Aquinas's family held him prisoner for nearly a year. At nineteen he chose to join the Dominican preachers.
- John the ApostleJohn the Apostle, tradition says, was the only one of the Twelve who died peacefully.
- AbrahamAbraham is revered by billions, yet most scholars now read him as literature, not history.
- Mary, mother of JesusMary, mother of Jesus, is named more often in the Quran than any other woman. The Quran mentions her 50 times.
- Constantine the GreatConstantine, the first Christian Roman emperor, was baptized only on his deathbed.
- JacobJacob wrestled a mysterious being until daybreak and limped ever after. He came away with a new name, Israel.
- IsaiahAccording to the Talmud, the prophet Isaiah hid in a cedar tree and was sawn in two. The Bible never says how he died.
- William BlakeNear death, William Blake spent one of his last shillings on a pencil. He drew his wife's portrait before he died.
- Francis of AssisiFrancis of Assisi crossed enemy lines during a crusade to meet a sultan. He returned unharmed.
- Mary MagdaleneThe English word maudlin, meaning sickeningly sentimental, comes from the way painters showed Mary Magdalene weeping. The woman behind that word left no writings of her own. She is never mentioned in any of the letters of Paul or in the…
- Saint JosephSaint Joseph, the husband of Mary and the legal father of Jesus, shares his name with the most common place name in the world. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency identifies that name as the Spanish form, San Jose. Yet the man…
- Joseph SmithJoseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, was held in a jailer's bedroom in Carthage, Illinois, on the 27th of June 1844. That day an armed mob with blackened faces stormed the building. Smith took the attackers for his…
- MuhammadMuhammad had lost his father, mother and grandfather by age eight. He founded a religion that spread across Arabia.
- Teresa of ÁvilaAt age seven, Teresa of Ávila ran away to seek martyrdom fighting the Moors.
- Joan of ArcJoan of Arc was convicted of heresy in 1431, but a second court overturned every word of that verdict in 1456.
- ElijahEvery Saturday evening, as the Sabbath ends, Jewish families perform the Havdalah ceremony and sing a plea for Elijah to arrive. The hymn goes: "Elijah the Prophet, Elijah the Tishbite, Elijah from Gilead. Let him come quickly, in our day…
- John DeeJohn Dee, an English mathematician and astronomer, once sent a flying beetle soaring up to the palace of Jupiter. The stage was at Trinity College, Cambridge, and the play was Aristophanes's Peace. Dee built the effect from pulleys and…
- Sergius of RadonezhSergius of Radonezh turned down the chance to lead the whole Russian church.