Circa: 1817 - Central Character: Elizabeth FryAbout this episode: How Elizabeth Fry transformed the brutal women’s ward of Newgate Prison through structure, dignity, and disciplined compassion—and reshaped society’s conscience.
19th century awakening
Circa: 1810 - Central Character: Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsá'íAbout this episode: Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsá'í spent his life preparing the ground for a new age he could sense but never see --- his story is the pre-dawn of the morning we inhabit.
Islam
Circa: 1809 - Central Character: Elizabeth Ann SetonAbout this episode: The story of Elizabeth Ann Seton, founder of the Sisters of Charity, and the enduring power of service as a spiritual calling.
Christianity
Circa: 1807 - Central Character: William WilberforceAbout this episode: How William Wilberforce's interior transformation on a carriage ride gave him the moral grounding to abolish the British slave trade.
Christianity
Circa: 1800 - Central Character: Ryōkan TaiguAbout this episode: Ryōkan Taigu was an Edo-period Zen monk whose life of radical simplicity and chosen joy continues to illuminate what it means to be fully, deliberately alive.
Buddhism
Circa: 1790 - Central Character: Judith Sargent MurrayAbout this episode: Harmonia explores Judith Sargent Murray, whose radical belief in the equality of every soul helped build the world we live in today.
Christianity
Circa: 1780 - Central Character: Gotthold Ephraim LessingAbout this episode: A reflection on Lessing and the moment when humanity began learning to discover spiritual truth as responsibly as scientific truth.
Philosopher
Circa: 1776 - Central Character: Tikhon of ZadonskAbout this episode: Tikhon of Zadonsk answered 18th-century Russian nihilism not with argument but with love --- and inspired Dostoevsky's greatest characters.
Christianity
Circa: 1775 - Central Character: Louis Claude de Saint-MartinAbout this episode: French mystic Louis Claude de Saint-Martin spent his life shedding every exterior spiritual system to arrive at one conviction: the faculty above reason belongs to every soul.
Christianity
Circa: 1774 - Central Character: Ann LeeAbout this episode: Harmonia recalls Ann Lee, the visionary leader who shaped one of the most radical spiritual communities in American history.
Christianity
Circa: 1773 - Central Character: Phillis WheatleyAbout this episode: How Phillis Wheatley's poetry created undeniable proof of human dignity, giving future generations the language to imagine justice.
Christianity
Circa: 1773 - Central Character: Mokujiki ShōninAbout this episode: A wandering Japanese monk carves a thousand smiling Buddhas and walks away --- and changes everything about what sacred art can mean.
Buddhism
Circa: 1754 - Central Character: John WoolmanAbout this episode: John Woolman's gentle witness against slavery through everyday choices helped Quakers become the first American denomination to oppose it, offering a model for moral clarity that remains urgent today.
Christianity
Circa: 1750 - Central Character: Benjamin Lay About this episode: The story of Benjamin Lay, the radical Quaker abolitionist who lived in a cave and refused to let good people look away from slavery.
Christianity
Circa: 1750 - Central Character: Anthony BenezetAbout this episode: The story of Quaker abolitionist Anthony Benezet and the profound spiritual distinction between forgiveness as personal work and justice as collective architecture.
Christianity
Circa: 1744 - Central Character: Emanuel SwedenborgAbout this episode: Scientist, mystic, and forerunner --- Emanuel Swedenborg followed reason to the edge of what reason can reach, and kept going.
Christianity
Circa: 1738 - Central Character: Charles WesleyAbout this episode: Charles Wesley wrote 6000 hymns that gave ordinary people a sacred voice --- and Harmonia wonders why we've stopped singing together.
Christianity
Circa: 1705 - Central Character: Kimpa VitaAbout this episode: Kimpa Vita, 21-year-old Kongolese prophet burned at the stake in 1706, asked a question the world is still answering.
Indigenous Spirituality
Circa: 1698 - Central Character: Jeanne GuyonAbout this episode: French mystic Jeanne Guyon was imprisoned in the Bastille for teaching that the interior life belongs to every soul --- and sang.
Christianity
Circa: 1697 - Central Character: Pierre BayleAbout this episode: Pierre Bayle championed tolerance and intellectual humility in an age of religious violence, offering a model for living with deep disagreement without dehumanization.
Christianity
Circa: 1697 - Central Character: Samuel SewallAbout this episode: A reflection on Samuel Sewall, and how public repentance reshaped moral responsibility.
Christianity
Circa: 1680 - Central Character: Sor Juana Inés de la CruzAbout this episode: Sor Juana Ins de la Cruz wrote theology, poetry, and defiance by candlelight.
Christianity
Circa: 1679 - Central Character: The Eighty-Five Martyrs of England and WalesAbout this episode: The story of Nicholas Postgate and the 85 Martyrs of England and Wales --- and why justice, like gravity, always finds its level.
Christianity
Circa: 1678 - Central Character: John BunyanAbout this episode: John Bunyan chose a prison cell over silence, and gave the world a map of the soul that still finds its way to ordinary people today.
Christianity
Circa: 1669 - Central Character: Nicolas StenoAbout this episode: Nicolas Steno founded modern geology and modeled how science and spiritual inquiry can illuminate different layers of the same reality.
Christianity