Circa: 1893 - Central Character: John Henry Barrows
Christianity
About this episode: Rev. Barrows organized the 1893 Parliament of Religions to demonstrate Christian superiority, but accidentally created the framework for American religious pluralism.

Circa: 1889 - Central Character: Abdullah Quilliam
Islam
About this episode: In late Victorian Liverpool, a former Methodist solicitor named William Quilliam returned from North Africa with a new name-Abdullah

Circa: 1889 - Central Character: Jane Addams
19th century awakening
About this episode: A gentle look at how Jane Addams transformed compassion into civic responsibility, revealing why her quiet vision still shapes the moral world we live in today.

Circa: 1889 - Central Character: Jane Addams - About this episode: Harmonia pauses our journey to reveal how 19th-century reformers—mostly women without authority—reshaped society through responsibility, preparing us to meet the remarkable figures who rewove the modern moral world.

Circa: 1886 - Central Character: Matilda Joslyn Gage
Christianity
About this episode: Matilda Joslyn Gage puts the alliance of church and state on trial

Circa: 1881 - Central Character: Clara Barton
Christianity
About this episode: Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross

Circa: 1878 - Central Character: William Booth
19th century awakening
About this episode: A walk through the East End with the Booths, where compassion took organized form and unnecessary suffering became impossible to ignore.

Circa: 1875 - Central Character: Helena Blavatsky
Mysticism
About this episode: Helena Blavatsky co-founded Theosophy in 1875, helping build a vocabulary of universal brotherhood that shaped the modern spiritual world.

Circa: 1875 - Central Character: Octavia Hill
19th century awakening
About this episode: A reflection on how Octavia Hill wove dignity into the spaces people lived, showing why environment, beauty, and stewardship still shape the moral world we inhabit today.

Circa: 1867 - Central Character: Enmegahbowh
Christianity
About this episode: Enmegahbowh, the first Native American priest in the Episcopal Church

Circa: 1866 - Central Character: Léonie Aviat
19th century awakening
About this episode: A look at Mother Mary’s quiet courage as she protected young factory workers and helped shape the early moral foundations of modern labor protections.

Circa: 1865 - Central Character: Nhá Chica
Christianity
About this episode: The story of Nhá Chica, the freed Brazilian slave who built a chapel over thirty years through pure faith and individual initiative.

Circa: 1860 - Central Character: Antoine Chevrier
Christianity
About this episode: The story of Antoine Chevrier, who turned an abandoned Lyon ballroom into a shelter, seeing not charity but restitution owed to the poor.

Circa: 1860 - Central Character: Angelo Secchi
Christianity
About this episode: The Vatican Observatory's centuries-long tradition of astronomical research reveals that wonder and service, science and faith, are expressions of the same love.

Circa: 1859 - Central Character: Henri Dunant
19th century awakening
About this episode: How Henri Dunant’s compassion at Solferino sparked the Red Cross, the Geneva Conventions, and a new global understanding of mercy.

Circa: 1858 - Central Character: Isaac Hecker
Christianity
About this episode: The story of Isaac Hecker, founder of the Paulists, and his insistence that spiritual and civic life are not separate --- and why that question now belongs to the whole world.

Circa: 1858 - Central Character: George MacDonald
Christianity
About this episode: George MacDonald lost his pulpit and found something larger --- the ancient truth that story is how the largest truths have always traveled to the human heart.

Circa: 1855 - Central Character: Florence Nightingale
19th century awakening
About this episode: A look at how Florence Nightingale helped medicine awaken, turning compassion into structure and revealing the deeper shift that made modern healthcare possible.

Circa: 1854 - Central Character: Maneckji Limji Hataria
Zoroastrianism
About this episode: Harmonia traces Zoroastrianism from Zarathustra's radical vision of monotheism to Maneckji Hataria's 19th century mission to save a dying faith.

Circa: 1853 - Central Character: Antoinette Brown Blackwell
Christianity
About this episode: Antoinette Brown Blackwell

Circa: 1848 - Central Character: Tahirih
Baháʼí Faith
About this episode: Harmonia remembers Tahirih (1814-1852), the Persian poet, theologian, and revolutionary who defied her world with words and unveiled her face at the Conference of Badasht.

Circa: 1845 - Central Character: Hannah Cohoon
Christianity
About this episode: Hannah Cohoon was a Shaker artist whose visionary gift drawings, made in humble obedience, became icons of American folk art.

Circa: 1843 - Central Character: Dorothea Dix
19th century awakening
About this episode: How Dorothea Dix exposed hidden suffering and helped transform mental health care through steady, uncompromising compassion.

Circa: 1840 - Central Character: Siyyid Kázim Rashtí
Islam
About this episode: In a quiet classroom in 19th-century Karbala, Siyyid Kzim Rasht whispered of a sacred change drawing near.

Circa: 1836 - Central Character: Jarena Lee
Christianity
About this episode: Jarena Lee was born free in a land built on slavery. Denied a pulpit, denied authority, and denied permission, she preached anyway