St Cross Fellow elected Honarary Fellow of Royal Society of Literature
St Cross College warmly congratulates Rev. Prof. Diarmaid MacCulloch Kt FBA, a Fellow of the College and one of the UK’s most acclaimed historians, on being named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (RSL).
The Royal Society of Literature announced its 2025 intake of Fellows and Honorary Fellows earlier this month, celebrating writers and scholars whose work has made a lasting impact on the UK’s literary and cultural life. Rev. Prof. MacCulloch was recognised for his exceptional contribution to historical writing, particularly in the field of ecclesiastical history.
A celebrated author and broadcaster, Rev. Prof. MacCulloch is Professor Emeritus of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford, and has published widely on the history of Christianity, the Reformation, and Tudor England. His books — including Thomas Cranmer: A Life, A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, and Silence: A Christian History — have received international acclaim and numerous awards. His BBC television series have brought complex religious history to wide audiences with clarity, wit, and insight.
His most recent work, Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity, was published to widespread praise in early 2025. In this bold and deeply researched volume, he explores how Christian thought has shaped — and been shaped by — attitudes to sex and sexuality over two millennia. The book has been described as “rich, original and urgently relevant” by critics and readers alike.
Reflecting on the honour, Rev. Prof. MacCulloch said:
Election to the Royal Society of Literature was a great surprise to me, and of course a pleasant one; I feel particularly honoured that this venerable learned society should feel my writing goes beyond the functional literary style that is the minimum kit for an historian.
He went on to describe the election event:
"It was especially pleasing to sign the Society's register with one of the pens of great writers which the Society possesses. I chose T.S. Eliot's pen because of the deep immersion in English history that lay behind his verse after his adoption of Anglican faith: it was an incidentally excellent choice because like Eliot himself, it writes beautifully."
Rev. Prof. MacCulloch has been a Fellow of St Cross College since 1995 and is an active and much-admired member of the College community. His election to the Royal Society of Literature is a fitting recognition of a lifetime’s contribution to scholarship, public education, and the written word.
The College extends its warmest congratulations on this prestigious and richly deserved honour.
