However, he writes that it, "suffers from an emphasis on negative sanctions which gives a wholly misleading picture of medieval practice, is limited primarily to data regarding France and Britain, and has been superseded even in its major focus, biblical analysis.

"[1] The central thesis of the book is that, contrary to prevalent beliefs, early Christianity was more tolerant of homosexuality than later periods.

Boswell argues that there was a more accepting attitude towards same-sex relationships in the early centuries of the Christian era, and that the condemnation of homosexuality by the Church emerged later.

She criticized him for confusing "the abuse of slave children in prostitution" with "eroticism" and concluded that like other gay theorists he was guilty of "moral and political myopia.

"[7] The philologist Warren Johansson, the art historian Wayne R. Dynes and John Lauritsen criticized Boswell's thesis.