A superb history of Christianity’s 2,000-year relationship with our animal instincts ... Masterly ... MacCulloch deals candidly with the clumsy and often cruel way in which churches in the post-second world war period dragged their feet on contraception, gay and lesbian rights and the ordination of women.
Offers a compelling and encyclopedic survey of how Christianity makes sense of sexual desire ... MacCulloch is an ideal guide in tracing this story. He writes, as always, with such liveliness and energy that the reader hardly notices the length of the book or the comprehensiveness of its field of reference ... His narrative is dispassionate, sometimes quietly and wittily deflationary, careful and generous, its own moral compass neither intrusive nor indecipherable.
It’s a thrilling read ... The most powerful argument of the book is about marriage ... This book is an important and timely contribution to the current debates not just within the Church but in societies that should understand the influence of Christian teaching on these subjects for good or ill ... Provides guidance to the Church, that debates don’t have to be couched in terms of following a “secular agenda” or betraying some sort of clearly defined “traditional” past.
Magisterial ... Lower Than the Angels sometimes veers into passages only a specialist could love, but this arcana is well balanced by MacCulloch’s dry wit and flair for narrative sweep ... MacCulloch['s] talent for breadth is matched by his impressive command of the details.
Thrilling and comprehensive ... MacCulloch is particularly engaging in his discussion of how baffling the early Christian mortification of the flesh would have seemed to contemporaries.
Riveting ... This book is littered with surprises that will intrigue non-believers and likely embarrass the devout ... MacCulloch’s fair-minded scholarship results in a thoughtful and nuanced portrait of the debates that went on in early Christianity around sex and marriage ... MacCulloch’s rapier-wit is never far away ... Readers will come away from this book with many an assumption shattered.
MacCulloch writes with fellow-feeling for those who found new and innovative ways to heed the call of the spirit outside of, and at times against, dominant authorities ... I’m grateful to MacCulloch for highlighting the pioneering historical and religious scholarship done by women, like Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Kathy Gaca, and, especially courageous, Jane Schaberg.
Magisterial ... It would be an injustice to say this work is other than scholarly. It shows clear evidence of the four years’ labour the author put into it ... If there is a weakness in this book, it is the paucity of material on the parallel evolution of those trans identities within the history of Christianity.
MacCulloch does not argue for any of the sides in the current debates on these issues. Rather, his careful historical analysis speaks for itself, and what it speaks to is an unclear revelatory and traditional basis for any particular view. To use the example of marriage, perhaps the sex or sexual orientation of the participants do not matter as much as we might think. Where MacCulloch runs thin is on questions of gender and sexual identity that underlie many of these arguments. With regard to the former, MacCulloch acknowledges that he has been outflanked by the trans movement and the issues it raises, but also points out that these issues are relatively new in Christian history and will take time, and more importantly, earnest and informed dialogue, to assess. For the present, Lower than the Angels provides much needed and well-presented historical perspective for consideration of these divisive issues.
Non-specialists...will have a constant sense of eyes being opened and thoughts provoked ... One can only admire the ambition of this large-scale theory, even if one also has to doubt several of the component claims on which it rests ... MacCulloch guides us through it with equanimity as well as expertise, while constantly trying to place the people he discusses in their own particular historical context.
Extraordinary, definitive ... Though his subjects are often abstruse, his writing is clear and even sometimes sprightly ... In the end, this mostly chronological, extended exercise in erudition is definitely not for the casual reader but for serious scholars of religious studies, who are sure to value it.
This is a rich, panoramic view of the changing understanding of sex, gender, celibacy, and marriage through Christian history, crafted by careful attention to the evocative stories, telling events, and nuanced debates that make up that history ... Dazzles in the depth of his knowledge of sources, clarity of his prose, carefully framed descriptions, and the playful wit that keeps the text from becoming dry or self-important. The end product is a work that reads as a fully engrossing and thorough summary of over 2,000 years of history ... MacCulloch is wonderfully even-handed and reliable as a guide, even when the topics explored are controversial ... An absorbing history of Christianity from a revealing angle. Timely, enjoyable, and thoroughly worthwhile.
Well written and thoroughly researched, this comprehensive volume unveils a fascinating history ... Lengthy and thorough ... MacCulloch is to be commended for largely avoiding the salacious and titillating; quite the opposite, his treatment of sexual history is decorous to a fault.
