Sex and the Church

What did Jesus Christ say about sex? Very little – which is how Christianity began promoting celibacy as the Christian ideal. Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch explores how Christianity turned people away from pleasure, physical beauty and polyamory and instead advocated celibacy. He travels from Israel to Greece, Italy and Ireland to find out how sex was transformed from necessity to vice.

In the Middle Ages, there were two revolutions in the Church’s attitudes towards sex. In the second of his films, Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch explores how Christianity took control of marriage in the 11th century – turning civil institution into sacred rite. And on visits to England, Germany and Italy, he reveals how the Protestant Reformation led to sexual revolution.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Enlightenment encouraged people to question authority – including the Church’s teachings on sex. In the final part of the series, Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch looks at how prostitution and homosexuality openly flourished and new forms of Protestantism began to overturn Church tradition, which led to campaigning, change and decriminalization in the 20th century.