Christianity.
The first selection is for the whole presentation at once.
It is followed below by selectable subsections of the talk.

1. Opening:

2. Meditation:
Readings from 'The Desert Fathers'

4. Pagan Setting:
Related settings from today and Roman times.

5. Jewish Setting:
A variety of competing groups in Palestine in the centuries straddling the year Zero.

6. New Ideas:
Paul extends the ideas of the Pharisees and replaces the law as the first means of redemption.

7. Constantine's Legacy:
Constantine extracts maximum unity from great diversity in the Christian movement of his time.

8. The Church Forming:
Teachings, hierarchy and church life becomes more defined and early monastic movements take form.

9. Established Belief:
Scholasticism, cathedrals, monastic orders and universities are the markers of this period; the 'Holy Roman Empire' reaches its apex.

10. Belief Challenged:
Printed Bibles, new ideas and discoveries and wayward Jesuits (Descartes), erode the authority of the faith, both Roman Catholic and Protestant.

11. Conclusion:
A world religion now, free from ethnic and geographic bounds, facing other believes of equal stature.

12. Meeting Close:
Sharing community.