tidying in gemlog posts

2026-03-24 22:07:31 +00:00
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 Mark Vernon got me thinking about how the Church’s teaching on sex may be evolving.

-Published on: 17 Dec 2024 updatedDate: 2024-12-17 
+Published on: 17 Dec 2024
+Updated on: 17 Dec 2024

 I just listened back to Mark Vernon talking about sexual desire and Christian spirituality.

@@ -16,11 +17,10 @@ Part of what’s so interesting about this, is I feel I got my first proper sex

 I’m also currently reading (as is Mark Vernon) Diarmaid MacCulloch’s epic history of Christian sexuality, [Lower Than the Angels][lower-than-the-angels].

-=> https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/313582/lower-than-the-angels-by-macculloch-diarmaid/9780241400937 
+=> https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/313582/lower-than-the-angels-by-macculloch-diarmaid/9780241400937

 But so far (I’m about a third of the way through and up to about the 5th century) there have only been odd glimmers of positive Christian understandings of sexuality. The overwhelming Christian consensus of the early Church (according to MacCulloch) is that sexual desire is a symptom of humanity’s fallen state, not our longing for God.

 So I want to know: what changed between Mark’s experience and mine? How is Christian teaching about sex changing right now? Was my experience typical of other Christians growing up today, in evangelical churches, across the denominational spectrum, across Britain, across the global Church? What *is* the Christian consensus on sex now, and how old is it, and where did it come from?

 I guess I’ve got two-thirds of a gigantic tome to work through, first of all. That’ll be a start. Any answers? Postcards please.
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 I'm summarising a few of the big stories about the Reformation I've been studying recently.

-Published on: 16 Feb 2026 updatedDate: 2026-02-27 
+Published on: 16 Feb 2026
+Updated on: 27 Feb 2026

 1. Moral corruption in public office

@@ -45,4 +46,3 @@ The medieval Latin church had a thing for councils. Councils functioned as a way
 10. Persecution

 In 1520, Martin Luther was declared an heretic in a papal bull issued by Pope Leo X. In response, Martin Luther burned the bull in public and announced that Leo X was the Antichrist. Various players in various quarters tried various strategies for resolving the schism, and it seems that few were willing to give up on violent coercion. In both Catholic and Protestant domains, magistrates burned books and burned people in an attempt to quell heresy.
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 # The structure of Genesis

+Published on: 21 Mar 2026
+
 I've been reading the Book of Genesis recently. Last night, I tried a favourite exercise of mine. It's very simple. I wrote down a list, in order, of all the 'episodes' in Genesis. That is, I wrote down a list that went:

 * Creation