Video: How Should We Understand the Weird Circumstances Around the Circumcision of Gershom?

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Alastair Roberts

Today’s question: “What is happening in Exodus 4 where the Lord seeks Moses’ life, but Zipporah circumcises Gershom and touches Moses’ feet with the foreskin to make him a “bridegroom of blood”?”

I reference James Jordan’s Law of the Covenant (PDF/Amazon).

If you have any questions for me, please leave them on my Curious Cat account. If you have found these videos helpful, please tell your friends. If you would like to support my continued production of them, you can do so on my Patreon account. You can also get the audio of these videos on Soundcloud or iTunes.

Posted in Audio, Bible, Exodus, Hermeneutics, OT, OT Theology, Podcasts, Questions and Answers, Theological, Video | Leave a comment

Video: Why Did Satan Enter into Judas to Betray Jesus if He Knew the Cross Would Defeat Him?

Posted on October 1, 2018 by Alastair Roberts

Today’s question: “How should we understand Satan entering into Judas and his ensuing plan to betray Jesus (Luke 22:3-6)? The wilderness temptations, the rebuke of Peter (Matt. 16:21-23), Christ’s agony in the garden, and even the calls to him to come down off the cross seem to suggest that Jesus was being tempted to abandon the path of suffering and death. Did Satan know that Jesus came to destroy his works by his death? If so, why would he incite Judas to betray him to certain death?”

Within my discussion, I reference this earlier video.

If you have any questions for me, please leave them on my Curious Cat account. If you have found these videos helpful, please tell your friends. If you would like to support my continued production of them, you can do so on my Patreon account. You can also get the audio of these videos on Soundcloud or iTunes.

Posted in Audio, Bible, Hermeneutics, Holy Week, Luke, NT, NT Theology, Podcasts, Soteriology, The Atonement, Theological, Video | 13 Comments

Video: Thinking Well About Our Disagreements

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Alastair Roberts

Today’s question asks about ways that we should think about our disagreements in the Church.

Within the discussion, I reference my discussion on the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel. You can also read the Oliver O’Donovan quotations I cite here.

If you have any questions for me, please leave them on my Curious Cat account. If you have found these videos helpful, please tell your friends. If you would like to support my continued production of them, you can do so on my Patreon account. You can also get the audio of these videos on Soundcloud or iTunes.

Posted in Audio, Controversies, Ethics, Hermeneutics, Podcasts, Questions and Answers, Theological, Video | 1 Comment

Video: What’s the Deal With the Weird Healing Pool in John 5?

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Alastair Roberts

Today’s question: “What’s going on in John 5 with the pool at Bethsaida? Was there a magical healing pool? Does Jesus sanction this healing method? If Jesus didn’t sanction this pool, why doesn’t he condemn it?”

If you have any questions for me, please leave them on my Curious Cat account. If you have found these videos helpful, please tell your friends. If you would like to support my continued production of them, you can do so on my Patreon account. You can also get the audio of these videos on Soundcloud or iTunes.

Posted in Audio, Bible, Hermeneutics, John, NT, NT Theology, Podcasts, Questions and Answers, Theological, Video | 2 Comments

Video: Wittgenstein and Baptism

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Alastair Roberts

Today’s question: “What do philosophers like Wittgenstein and Rorty have to teach us about baptism and meaning?”

If you have any questions for me, please leave them on my Curious Cat account. If you have found these videos helpful, please tell your friends. If you would like to support my continued production of them, you can do so on my Patreon account. You can also get the audio of these videos on Soundcloud or iTunes.

Posted in Audio, Christian Experience, Hermeneutics | 1 Comment

Video: More on My Reading and My Writing Habits

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Alastair Roberts

Today I answer a couple of questions following on from my previous video, about my reading and writing practices.

If you have any questions for me, please leave them on my Curious Cat account. If you have found these videos helpful, please tell your friends. If you would like to support my continued production of them, you can do so on my Patreon account. You can also get the audio of these videos on Soundcloud or iTunes.

Posted in My Books, My Reading, Podcasts, Video, What I'm Reading | Leave a comment

Theopolis Podcast: Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Alastair Roberts

In this episode of the Theopolis Podcast, Peter Leithart and I discuss the readings for the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29, Mark 9:38-50, James 5:13-20.

You can follow the Theopolis podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes, and on most podcast apps. You can read show notes over on the Theopolis podcast website. You can also see past episodes I have contributed to by clicking the ‘Theopolis’ link in the bar above.

Posted in Bible, James, Mark, NT, NT Theology, Numbers, OT, OT Theology, Podcasts, Theological, Theopolis | Leave a comment

Video: My Library and Reading Habits

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Alastair Roberts

Today I respond to a questioner asking for a tour of my bookshelves. You don’t get the tour (sorry!), but I do share a bit about my library and reading habits.

Some of the books that I mention within the video and would particularly recommend:

Alan Noble, Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age
Michael J. McClymond and Gerald McDermott, The Theology of Jonathan Edwards
Michael J McClymond, The Devil’s Redemption: A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism
Yoram Hazony, The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture
Yoram Hazony, The Virtue of Nationalism
Julián Marías, Metaphysical Anthropology
Ivan Illich, Tools for Conviviality
Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer
Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt, The Coddling of the American Mind

If you have any questions for me, please leave them on my Curious Cat account. If you have found these videos helpful, please tell your friends. If you would like to support my continued production of them, you can do so on my Patreon account. You can also get the audio of these videos on Soundcloud or iTunes.

Posted in Audio, My Books, My Reading, Podcasts, Questions and Answers, Video, What I'm Reading | 9 Comments

Video: Gender Segregation?

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Alastair Roberts

Today, I respond to a question raised in response to yesterday’s video.

In relation to your “Paul Maxwell on Masculinity” video, I definitely have observed the beneficial impact that working together seems to have on men. However, you suggest that keeping men and women working separately as much as possible is the best way to allow men to have good sense of their own masculinity. What exactly would that look like in a modern context, and are there areas where you think that separation would become problematic? Prudence Allen’s work on philosophical concepts of women indicates that the treatment of universities as male-only spaces did have some very negative results, and she argues for a complementarity view of the sexes that emphasizes the way positive interaction between the sexes can create more fruitful results, intellectual and otherwise, than if the sexes are kept separate. Are there spaces where you think gender exclusion should not take place?

Within the discussion, I reference Sister Prudence Allen’s three volume work, The Concept of Woman—Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3.

If you have any questions for me, please leave them on my Curious Cat account. If you have found these videos helpful, please tell your friends. If you would like to support my continued production of them, you can do so on my Patreon account. You can also get the audio of these videos on Soundcloud or iTunes.

Posted in Culture, Podcasts, Sex and Sexuality, Society, The Church, Theological, Video | 4 Comments

Three Things

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Alastair Roberts

A couple of friends of mine, Andy Patton and Phillip Johnston, have recently set up a new project called Three Things. Three Things is a newsletter digest of three resources to help you engage with God, neighbour, and culture. It is a great venture, which I wanted to bring to your attention (I will also be appearing on it in the next few days).

The purpose of the newsletter is bring some of the best things that Andy and Phillip have encountered over the last few days to people’s attention. Andy describes what it involves in more detail:

Each issue will have not one resource (too little), not ten (TMI!), but three things to encourage deeper engagement with God, with your neighbor, and with current culture. We’ll provide a short blurb beside each recommendation to let you know why we think the resource is worth your time.

Here’s what you’ll get each time:

READ: We will kick off each issue with an essay, long-form article, or book recommendation. The idea here is to give you some food for thought that is a bit chewier and more on the analytical side, helping you to understand cultural happenings or Christian ideas in a more detailed way. The READ resource will take more than ten minutes, but the places it takes you will reward the time it takes to get there.

LISTEN: Here you will find something to watch or listen to — a talk, lecture, sermon, interview, podcast, etc. — to consider as you walk, drive, do your housework, or patiently sit and take notes.

LIVE: If the READ category is more analytical, LIVE links are focused on everyday life with God and neighbor. These resources usually won’t take you more than ten minutes to watch or read, but could lead to long thoughts and discussions.

You can visit the Three Things website and subscribe here. You can support their work on Patreon here.

Posted in Public Service Announcement | 1 Comment