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Lower than the Angels

A History of Sex and Christianity

Author Diarmaid MacCulloch
Ebook (EPUB)
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Viking
On sale Apr 15, 2025 | 688 Pages | 9781984878687
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A groundbreaking history of sexual emotion, sexual activity, gender relations, marriage and the family--and how Christianity has interacted with this panorama of human concerns

Few matters produce more public interest and public anxiety than sex and religion. Much of the political contention and division in societies across the world centres on sexual topics, and one-third of the global population is Christian in background or outlook. The issue goes to the heart of present-day religion.

This book seeks to calm fears and encourage understanding through telling a three-thousand-year-long tale of Christians encountering sex, gender, and the family. The message of Lower than the Angels is simple, necessary and timely: to pay attention to the complexity and contradictions in the history of Christianity. The reader can decide from the story told here whether there is a single Christian theology of sex, or many contending voices in a symphony that is not at all complete. Oxford’s Emeritus Professor of the History of the Church introduces an epic of ordinary and extraordinary Christians trying to make sense of themselves and of humanity’s deepest desires, fears and hopes.
“A rich, panoramic view of the changing understanding of sex, gender, celibacy, and marriage through Christian history… MacCulloch is wonderfully even-handed and reliable as a guide, even when the topics explored are controversial… Timely, enjoyable, and thoroughly worthwhile.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Clear... sprightly... [an] extraordinary, definitive text, a study of attitudes towards sexuality and religion that encompasses three millennia.” —Booklist, starred review

“Both scholarly rigorous and amiably open to the variations of human experience, this enthralls.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Well written and thoroughly researched, this comprehensive volume unveils a fascinating history.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A comprehensive and richly entertaining history of the ways in which, for 3,000 years, the church has tied itself in knots over sex… MacCulloch is the best kind of scholar.”—The Observer (UK)

“Compelling and encyclopedic… MacCulloch is an ideal guide in tracing this story. He writes, as always, with such liveliness and energy.”—The Telegraph (UK)

"Magisterial ... In Lower than the Angels, Diarmaid MacCulloch offers a history of sex and Christianity that is both confronting and reassuring in its detail and complexity, taking biblical scholarship and theological development seriously at the same time as insisting on the historian’s independence. A thrilling read."—Financial Times
© Chris Gibbions
Diarmaid MacCulloch is a fellow of St. Cross College, Oxford, and professor of the history of the church at Oxford University. His books include Suffolk and the Tudors, winner of the Royal Historical Society’s Whitfield Prize, and Thomas Cranmer: A Life, which won the Whitbread Biography Prize, the James Tait Black Prize, and the Duff Cooper Prize. A former Anglican deacon, he has presented many highly celebrated documentaries for television and radio, and was knighted in 2012 for his services to scholarship. He lives in Oxford, England. View titles by Diarmaid MacCulloch

About

A groundbreaking history of sexual emotion, sexual activity, gender relations, marriage and the family--and how Christianity has interacted with this panorama of human concerns

Few matters produce more public interest and public anxiety than sex and religion. Much of the political contention and division in societies across the world centres on sexual topics, and one-third of the global population is Christian in background or outlook. The issue goes to the heart of present-day religion.

This book seeks to calm fears and encourage understanding through telling a three-thousand-year-long tale of Christians encountering sex, gender, and the family. The message of Lower than the Angels is simple, necessary and timely: to pay attention to the complexity and contradictions in the history of Christianity. The reader can decide from the story told here whether there is a single Christian theology of sex, or many contending voices in a symphony that is not at all complete. Oxford’s Emeritus Professor of the History of the Church introduces an epic of ordinary and extraordinary Christians trying to make sense of themselves and of humanity’s deepest desires, fears and hopes.

Reviews

“A rich, panoramic view of the changing understanding of sex, gender, celibacy, and marriage through Christian history… MacCulloch is wonderfully even-handed and reliable as a guide, even when the topics explored are controversial… Timely, enjoyable, and thoroughly worthwhile.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Clear... sprightly... [an] extraordinary, definitive text, a study of attitudes towards sexuality and religion that encompasses three millennia.” —Booklist, starred review

“Both scholarly rigorous and amiably open to the variations of human experience, this enthralls.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Well written and thoroughly researched, this comprehensive volume unveils a fascinating history.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A comprehensive and richly entertaining history of the ways in which, for 3,000 years, the church has tied itself in knots over sex… MacCulloch is the best kind of scholar.”—The Observer (UK)

“Compelling and encyclopedic… MacCulloch is an ideal guide in tracing this story. He writes, as always, with such liveliness and energy.”—The Telegraph (UK)

"Magisterial ... In Lower than the Angels, Diarmaid MacCulloch offers a history of sex and Christianity that is both confronting and reassuring in its detail and complexity, taking biblical scholarship and theological development seriously at the same time as insisting on the historian’s independence. A thrilling read."—Financial Times

Author

© Chris Gibbions
Diarmaid MacCulloch is a fellow of St. Cross College, Oxford, and professor of the history of the church at Oxford University. His books include Suffolk and the Tudors, winner of the Royal Historical Society’s Whitfield Prize, and Thomas Cranmer: A Life, which won the Whitbread Biography Prize, the James Tait Black Prize, and the Duff Cooper Prize. A former Anglican deacon, he has presented many highly celebrated documentaries for television and radio, and was knighted in 2012 for his services to scholarship. He lives in Oxford, England. View titles by Diarmaid MacCulloch

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