Intelligence Squared

Sex, Gender and Christianity: A 3,000 Year History, with Diarmaid MacCulloch and Mary Beard (Part Two)

March 18, 2026

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • The historical Christian discourse on homosexuality is heavily influenced by Jewish hostility toward Greek same-sex practices that predates Jesus, and early biblical references are often based on ambiguous Greek slang rather than clear condemnation of modern concepts of same-sex relationships. 
  • The medieval Catholic Church invented the story of the 'sodomite massacre of Christmas Eve' to retroactively explain Jesus's silence on homosexuality in the Bible, demonstrating a deep historical embarrassment over the lack of explicit condemnation. 
  • Major shifts in Christian attitudes toward sex and gender, such as the Protestant Reformation's elevation of the married clergy family over celibacy and the impact of 19th/20th-century contraception, show that current debates are rooted in relatively recent historical ruptures, not a static ancient tradition. 

Segments

Early Christianity and Celibacy
Copied to clipboard!
(00:01:37)
  • Key Takeaway: Jesus’s unmarried status was a Jewish cultural trait, and not all of his twelve apostles were celibate, as Peter had a mother-in-law mentioned in the New Testament.
  • Summary: The stereotype of early Christianity emphasizing no sex is partially supported by Jesus being unmarried, a trait also seen in contemporary Jewish prophets. The twelve apostles were not uniformly celibate; Peter is explicitly shown to have been married. Modern stories suggesting Mary Magdalene was Jesus’s wife lack historical basis.
Biblical Silence on Homosexuality
Copied to clipboard!
(00:04:07)
  • Key Takeaway: The early hostility toward same-sex relationships in Christianity stems from a clash with Greek culture, evidenced by Jewish writers before Jesus and later by Paul in Romans.
  • Summary: Jesus made no explicit statements regarding homosexuality, but hostility toward it existed in Judaism due to cultural clashes with the Greek world’s stereotyped, unequal same-sex relationships. Paul used same-sex relations as an illustration of idolatry in the Epistle to the Romans. Later New Testament epistles list terms like arsenakoi and malakoi, which were inaccurately translated as ‘homosexuals’ in mid-20th-century Bibles.
Medieval Condemnation of Sodomy
Copied to clipboard!
(00:08:47)
  • Key Takeaway: The 12th century saw an intense crystallization of hatred against same-sex relations, termed ‘sodomy,’ leading to the creation of the fictional ‘sodomite massacre of Christmas Eve’ story.
  • Summary: The first millennium of Christianity offered little support for homosexuality, but negativity intensified significantly around the 12th century, focusing particularly on male same-sex relationships labeled as sodomy. A widespread medieval story claimed God massacred all sodomites on the first Christmas Eve to explain Jesus’s silence on the topic in the Bible. This fabricated narrative served to cover the embarrassment of the biblical silence.
Reformation and Clerical Marriage
Copied to clipboard!
(00:14:03)
  • Key Takeaway: The 16th-century Protestant Reformation, led by Martin Luther, fundamentally reversed 1,500 years of tradition by insisting clergy must marry and have families, making the Protestant clergy family the new model of Christian life.
  • Summary: Martin Luther’s revolution centered on the conviction that clergy were not fundamentally different from laypeople, challenging the enforced celibacy established by the Western Church after the 12th century. Luther took a wife, establishing the Protestant clergy family as an essential institution of the Reformation. This marked a complete turnaround from the previous ideal of the celibate monk or nun.
Impact of Contraception on Theology
Copied to clipboard!
(00:16:31)
  • Key Takeaway: The reliable availability of industrial rubber for contraceptives in the 1850s and the later invention of the pill created a theological crisis by decoupling most sexual acts from the possibility of procreation.
  • Summary: The proliferation of rubber plantations enabled the first reliable mechanical contraception, a major theological event for Christianity. The subsequent development of the pill further separated sex from procreation, challenging church theology which still largely assumes sex is about reproduction. The Anglican Communion accepted contraception in 1930, while the Roman Catholic Church forbade it completely in the same year.
Women’s Changing Roles
Copied to clipboard!
(00:18:20)
  • Key Takeaway: The 19th and 20th-century struggles for women to gain access to education and professions are profoundly altering Christian theology, as it is now being done in new ways by women.
  • Summary: Women gaining rights to university, medicine, and law throughout the 19th and 20th centuries represents a basic, big fact impacting Christianity. Theology, traditionally written by men, is now being shaped by women, which is profoundly altering the faith and causing difficulty for those clinging to frail masculinity in politics globally. Understanding this cultural struggle is essential for navigating current debates.
Historians’ Role and Future Surprises
Copied to clipboard!
(00:27:36)
  • Key Takeaway: Future historians, 500 years hence, will likely view the current intense arguments over marriage within Christianity with surprise, similar to how we view 19th-century Scottish church splits over ministerial patronage.
  • Summary: The job of historians is to unsettle settled facts and provide context against fear and ignorance, offering medicine against mental illness rooted in the unknown. The vehemence and bitterness surrounding current Christian debates on issues like homosexuality will likely seem ridiculous in 500 years, much like the 1840s Scottish church split over patronage. Humans remain flawed, but there is faith that current problems can be contextualized and solved.
Surprises in Historical Research
Copied to clipboard!
(00:28:36)
  • Key Takeaway: The discovery of the widespread medieval ‘sodomite massacre of Christmas Eve’ story and the hilarious accounts of early Irish monastic life were personal surprises for the historian.
  • Summary: The historian admitted that the ‘great sodomite massacre of Christmas Eve’ story was a late and surprising discovery in his research, particularly after finding the Franciscan friar’s explanation for its creation. He also found humor in historical accounts, citing a 10th/11th-century Irish story where Saint Brendan was disturbed by two maidens with pointed breasts who slept with him to prove their sanctity.
Audience Questions on Mary
Copied to clipboard!
(00:32:46)
  • Key Takeaway: The doctrines of Mary’s perpetual virginity (second century) and the Immaculate Conception (later) were developed relatively late to defend Jesus’s humanity against the implication of illegitimacy suggested by his virgin birth narrative.
  • Summary: The concept of Mary as perpetually virgin developed in the second century, while the Immaculate Conception doctrine followed later, becoming a Roman Catholic point of debate until the 19th century. These doctrines arose to counter the early outside criticism that Jesus’s birth, being without Joseph as father, implied illegitimacy. The church doubled down on virginity doctrine in the fourth century, leading to the later, hugely important cult of Mary.