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Live On Stage
Tuesday March 3 2026, 7pm GMT

Mary Beard and Diarmaid MacCulloch on the History of Sex, Gender and Christianity

In the twenty-first century, Christianity or historically Christian societies have witnessed one of the most extraordinary revolutions in attitudes to sex and gender in human history, bringing liberation for some and fury and fear for others. Understanding the history of Christianity and its influence on our cultural identity is essential to understanding debates around the role of women in society, same-sex relationships and the public exploration of gender and trans identity. 

On March 3, Diarmaid MacCullouch, one of Britain’s foremost experts on the history of Christianity, and Mary Beard, acclaimed and award winning classicist best known for her work on the history of women and power, come to Intelligence Squared to help us understand the 3000-year-long story of Christians, and Jews before them, encountering sex, gender and the family. 

Join us live at Union Chapel to explore the glorious complexity and contradictions in this history and ask your questions in the audience Q&A. 

Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity (Hardback)
by Diarmaid MacCulloch

BUY ON:
Waterstones
Event Name

Mary Beard and Diarmaid MacCulloch on the History of Sex, Gender and Christianity

Speaker

  • Diarmaid MacCulloch

    Historian and author of Lower Than The Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity

Speaker

  • Mary Beard

    Classicist, author and broadcaster, whose new book is Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World

Speakers are subject to change.

Location
  • Union Chapel
  • Compton Terrace
  • London
  • N1 2UN
Time
  • Tuesday 3 March 2026
  • 7pm to 8:30pm GMT

Speakers

Speaker

Diarmaid MacCulloch

Historian and author of Lower Than The Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity

Emeritus Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University, and Fellow of St Cross College and of Campion Hall. His Thomas Cranmer (1996) won the Whitbread Biography Prize, the James Tait Black Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize; Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490-1700 (2004) won the Wolfson Prize and the British Academy Prize. A History of Christianity (2010), which was adapted into a six-part BBC television series, was awarded the Cundill and Hessell-Tiltman Prizes. He was knighted in 2012 and was awarded the Norton Medlicott Medal by the Historical Association in 2022. His latest book is Lower Than The Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity.
Speaker

Mary Beard

Classicist, author and broadcaster, whose new book is Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World

One of the most original and best-known classicists working today. She was Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge until 2022, is a fellow of Newnham College, and the Classics editor of the TLS. She is a fellow of the British Academy and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her books include the Wolfson Prize-winning Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town (2008), the best-selling SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (2015) and Women & Power: A Manifesto (2017). She has written and presented several television documentaries, including ‘Meet the Romans’ and ‘Forbidden Art’.  Her new book is Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World.

Speakers are subject to change.

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