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The tangled tale of Christianity’s changing attitudes to sex

In July this year, an act of iconoclasm rocked St Mary’s cathedral in Linz, Austria. The Crowning, a newly installed sculpture of the Virgin Mary by artist Esther Strauss, depicting Mary in the act of giving birth, legs parted, and robes drawn up to her chest, was beheaded by vandals who deemed it abominable and blasphemous.

Diarmaid MacCulloch takes a look at the thorny subject in his new book and reveals sometimes conveniently forgotten facts of how sex was viewed throughout Christian history Painting by Paul Delaroche from the 19th century showing Saint Anthony Abbot facing a series of temptations devised by Satan, including beautiful women who tried to lure him into sin. In July this year, an act of iconoclasm rocked St Mary’s cathedral in Linz, Austria. The Crowning , a newly installed sculpture of the Virgin Mary by artist Esther Strauss, depicting Mary in the act of giving birth, legs parted, and robes drawn up to her chest, was beheaded by vandals who deemed it abominable and blasphemous.

For her part, Strauss had intended the sculpture as a way of Mary “getting her body back” after centuries of being depicted by males in a sanitised and unrealistic manner. For some, this was clearly too much. Join the Irish Independent WhatsApp channel Stay up to date with all the latest news.