Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch FBA, FSA, FR Hist S (born 31 October 1951) is Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 (since 1997) and Fellow (formerly Senior Tutor) of St Cross College, Oxford

St Cross College, Oxford

St Cross College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is an all-graduate college, sharing attractive, traditional-style buildings on a central site in St Giles', just south of Pusey Street...

 (since 1995). Though ordained as a deacon

Deacon

Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...

 in the Church of England, he declined ordination to the priesthood because of the Church's attitude to his sexuality.
Diarmaid MacCulloch was born in Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. He attended Hillcroft Preparatory School and Stowmarket Grammar school in Suffolk, and subsequently read History at Churchill College, Cambridge

Churchill College, Cambridge

Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.In 1958, a Trust was established with Sir Winston Churchill as its Chairman of Trustees, to build and endow a college for 60 fellows and 540 Students as a national and Commonwealth memorial to Winston Churchill; its...

 (BA 1972, MA 1976), where he was organ scholar.