When much of the political contentions and divisions in societies across the world centre on matters of gender, and one-third of the global population is Christian in background or outlook, few topics of public concern are of more contemporary relevance than sex and religion. In a single lifetime, Christianity or historically Christian societies have witnessed one of the most extraordinary about-turns in attitudes to sex and gender in human history: a twin-pronged revolution in the place of women in society, and the place of same-sex love amid the spectrum of human emotions.
The History of Sex & the Church Project represents the bewildering variety of belief-systems, practices and theologies that have been regarded as norms across twenty centuries in the various settings of Christian practice: extending to matters of sexuality, gender outlooks and identities, family, and marriage.
That means taking seriously, not just Christendom East and West, but Christianity where it has not enjoyed power, particularly in Islamicate Asia and Africa from the seventh century.
Present-day political implications worldwide are an important part of this story, and the stance taken is alert to the humanity and rationality in past ideological and legal packages, as well as being open to displaying the frequent direness of ‘Christian’ attitudes and constructed situations up to the present day.
