Sex and the Church
Christianity Vs The West
S1 • E3 Apr 24, 2014 59m
In this final episode of the series, professor Diarmaid MacCulloch explores how the offical Christian Church and Western society have moved apart on issues of sex and gender over the last 300 years. The Enlightenment encouraged people to question authority and that included the Church's teachings on sex. In the late 17th century, prostitution and homosexuality openly flourished in western cities - an open affront to centuries of Christian teaching. At the same time, new forms of Protestantism, such as Methodism, began to question traditional Church teaching, giving leadership roles to women.