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Conversations with Tyler / episode intelligence

Diarmaid MacCulloch on Christianity, Sex, and Unsettling Settled Facts

21 Jan 2026 13 published claims 2 attributable people

Speakers in the public record

Claim mix

evaluation 7belief 3commitment 1prediction 1recommendation 1

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The useful parts, with receipts.

13 published records

01 / belief

If I think of the 12th and 13th centuries in England and France, parts of Spain, there are so many just incredible cathedrals or religious structures built, many of them still with us.

“If I think of the 12th and 13th centuries in England and France, parts of Spain, there are so many just incredible cathedrals or religious structures built, many of them still with us.”
Speaker
Tyler Cowen
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

03 / belief

I think one way you can account for it is by saying that the New Testament is written by the winners in a very particular conflict, and that is the conflict as to who is going to lead the church after Jesus.

“I think one way you can account for it is by saying that the New Testament is written by the winners in a very particular conflict, and that is the conflict as to who is going to lead the church after Jesus.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

04 / evaluation

I think you’re comparing apples and carrots, really, because what you’d be examining with Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus is a religion based on practice, not on systematic thought or theology.

“I think you’re comparing apples and carrots, really, because what you’d be examining with Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus is a religion based on practice, not on systematic thought or theology.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

05 / commitment

Yes, we must — I’m sure we will — talk about the importance of the 12th century in the West, which transformed so many different things about marriage and sex.

“Yes, we must — I’m sure we will — talk about the importance of the 12th century in the West, which transformed so many different things about marriage and sex.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

06 / evaluation

I think we, with a Western tradition, often forget how absolutely unusual that is within world religions, to have a single form of a religion absolutely dominating everything within a particular continent.

“I think we, with a Western tradition, often forget how absolutely unusual that is within world religions, to have a single form of a religion absolutely dominating everything within a particular continent.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

07 / prediction

It’s the 12th century when Jews ceased to allow polygyny in such circumstances. I suspect that is because the pressures of Western society around them.

“It’s the 12th century when Jews ceased to allow polygyny in such circumstances. I suspect that is because the pressures of Western society around them.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

08 / evaluation

Martin Luther’s concept of the old church, the church he was rejecting, was one which had played a huge confidence trick on the laity of Europe by saying that clergy are special, and the way we’re going to make them special is by making them celibate. So, making all clergy married, which is effectively what happened in the Protestant Reformation, absolutely transforms the rules on marriage and sexuality generally because from then on, actually, the clerical family is the model of the Christian life.

“Martin Luther’s concept of the old church, the church he was rejecting, was one which had played a huge confidence trick on the laity of Europe by saying that clergy are special, and the way we’re going to make them special is by making them celibate. So, making all clergy married, which is effectively what happened in the Protestant Reformation, absolutely transforms the rules on marriage and sexuality generally because from then on, actually, the clerical family is the model of the Christian life.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

09 / evaluation

They climb by being clever, and they climb by the fact that the first two Tudor monarchs did encourage them to do so because Henry VII, the first of the Tudor monarchs, was the most unlikely person in English history to become a monarch.

“They climb by being clever, and they climb by the fact that the first two Tudor monarchs did encourage them to do so because Henry VII, the first of the Tudor monarchs, was the most unlikely person in English history to become a monarch.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

11 / evaluation

You may remember that, in the days of the communist regime in Eastern Europe, organ recitals were crowded out because of the way that the general public could connect with the transcendent in a regime which denied the transcendent.

“You may remember that, in the days of the communist regime in Eastern Europe, organ recitals were crowded out because of the way that the general public could connect with the transcendent in a regime which denied the transcendent.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

12 / evaluation

At the center of it is still the Church of England, and the Church of Rome has done reasonably well in recent years because it’s constantly being replenished from outside the country by immigration.

“At the center of it is still the Church of England, and the Church of Rome has done reasonably well in recent years because it’s constantly being replenished from outside the country by immigration.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler
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