{"podcast":{"title":"Conversations with Tyler","slug":"conversations-with-tyler-887044","podcast_index_feed_id":887044,"rss_url":"https://cowenconvos.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://www.conversationswithtyler.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/7/1/7/b/717bd07f94e956cea04421dee9605cbd/CWT_-_Podcast_Art_-_3000x3000.jpg","author":"Conversations with Tyler","episode_count":290,"summary":"Tyler Cowen engages today's deepest thinkers in wide-ranging explorations of their work, the world, and everything in between. New conversations every other Wednesday. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-11T00:19:11.580470+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/conversations-with-tyler-887044"},"episode":{"title":"Diarmaid MacCulloch on Christianity, Sex, and Unsettling Settled Facts","slug":"diarmaid-macculloch-on-christianity-sex-and-unsettling-settled-facts","published_at":"2026-01-21T13:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/conversations-with-tyler-887044/diarmaid-macculloch-on-christianity-sex-and-unsettling-settled-facts","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/conversations-with-tyler-887044","url":"https://cowenconvos.libsyn.com/diarmaid-macculloch-on-christianity-sex-and-unsettling-settled-facts","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/cowenconvos/CWT-261-DiarmaidMacCulloch-Audio-Final_mixdown.mp3?dest-id=850607","summary":"Tyler considers Diarmaid MacCulloch one of those rare historians whose entire body of work rewards reading. This work includes his award-winning Cranmer biography, his sweeping histories of Christianity and the Reformation, and his latest on sex and the church, which demonstrates what MacCulloch calls the historian's true vocation: unsettling settled facts to keep humanity sane. Tyler and Diarmaid explore whether monotheism correlates with monogamy, Christianity's early instinct towards egalitarianism, what the Eucharistic revolution reveals about the cathedral building boom, the role of Mary in Christianity and Islam, where Michel Foucault went wrong on sexuality, the significance of the clerical family replacing the celibate monk, why Elizabeth I—not Henry VIII—mattered most for the English Reformation, why English Renaissance music began so brilliantly but then needed to start importing Germans, whether Christianity needs hell to survive, what MacCulloch plans to do next, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full vi deo on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded October 29th, 2025 . This episode was made possible through the support of the John Templeton Foundation. Other ways to connect Follow us on X and Instagram Follow Tyler on X Sign up for our newsletter Join our Discord Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here . Image Credit: Barry Jones","meta_description":"Tyler considers Diarmaid MacCulloch one of those rare historians whose entire body of work rewards reading. This work includes his award-winning Cranmer b…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3582,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/conversations-with-tyler-887044/episodes/diarmaid-macculloch-on-christianity-sex-and-unsettling-settled-facts/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/conversations-with-tyler-887044/diarmaid-macculloch-on-christianity-sex-and-unsettling-settled-facts.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}