Religion

Bishop Asaiah talks with police and reporters outside the ruins of the headquarters of the Fountain of the World cult following an bomb attack by two former members, 11 December 1958. The Regents of the University of California (CC BY 4.0

How Have Cults Shaped American History?

From a cult’s rogue personalities to its foundational ideologies, how have fringe beliefs guided the direction of the American dream?

Early Christian martyrs in a Roman arena, Jan Luyken, c.1700. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.

Diocletian’s Great Persecution

On 23 February 303 Roman emperor Diocletian embarked on his Great Persecution of the empire’s Christians. Why?

A hunter with a beaver biting off its testicles. Miniature from the Physiologus, 14th century. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich. Public Domain.

Searching for the Soul of the Beaver

Are beavers beasts or fish? For medieval philosophers, this was an important question with implications for the dining table.

Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters, by Hendrick Avercamp, c.1608. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.

Who to Blame for Early Modern Climate Change?

The changing climate of the Little Ice Age forced radical thinkers to reconsider humanity’s place in the universe.

Marginal illustration showing the expulsion of Jews, the Rochester Chronicle, 1355. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

The Long Destruction of England’s Jews

The first year of Edward I’s reign saw waves of strictures placed on a medival Jewish community in an already perilous situation. It set the path to their expulsion.

William Price of Llantrisant in druidic costume, by A.C. Hemming, 1918. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

Archdruid William Price Challenges Funerary Rites

There was no law permitting cremation, but there was no law against it either. On 13 January 1884, a Welsh druid took the matter to trial.

Assisted dying illustration © Ben Jones/Heart Agency.

The Long Debate on Assisted Dying

The issue of assisted dying was first put before Parliament in 1936. Many of the same questions remain, but the arguments have changed.

Triptych panel with Saint Sebastian, c. 15th-16th century. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

‘Lower than the Angels’ by Diarmaid MacCulloch review

Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity by Diarmaid MacCulloch reminds us that when it comes to sexuality and gender, scripture is often contradictory.