Reviewed: Diarmaid MacCulloch’s history of sex and Christianity

The acclaimed historian’s new book Lower than the angels: A history of sex and Christianity is not a light read. But it’s a useful contribution to ongoing debates, says our reviewer 

This is another ‘big book’ from the academic, historian and television presenter, Diarmaid MacCulloch.

Spanning 600 pages and interrogating social, biblical and cultural attitudes towards sex and Christianity from Ancient Greece to the modern day, this is no casual or superficial undertaking, and not a light read.

MacCulloch is known for approaching huge topics, carrying out tireless research and offering his audience a new slant on what might previously have seemed familiar and understood. In what is a dozen books now, his forensic accounts of the Tudor period and ecclesiastical history through millenia have engendered an enthusiastic following.

In person he cuts a dashing figure in his linen jacket, with sparkling eyes and a wry smile, and is considered a charming and engaging speaker and writer. In recent years his notable titles have included Thomas Cromwell: A Life (700 pages) and A History of Christianity: the first three thousand years (1,200 pages).