Beyond Gold: Faith on the Silk Road

About This Podcast

Uncover the forgotten history of a massive 8th-century Christian monument in China and the state-sponsored 'translation bureaus' that systematically spread Buddhism. This episode examines the spiritual journeys that transformed the Silk Road into a highway of faith, tracing the paths of missionary monks, intrepid pilgrims, and Sufi mystics. We reveal how Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, and Islam were adapted and fused in the art of Gandhara and the multicultural oasis of the Dunhuang Caves. How did these competing faiths coexist and reshape civilizations at the crossroads of the ancient world?