Author: Alastair Roberts
Alastair Roberts (PhD, Durham University) writes in the areas of biblical theology and ethics, but frequently trespasses beyond these bounds. He participates in the weekly Mere Fidelity podcast, blogs at Alastair’s Adversaria, and tweets at @zugzwanged.
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Image of God
In your video “Created in the Image of the Angels” you say that humans were supposed to grow into the Image of God, but don’t discuss how this relates to the verse you referenced in passing earlier in the video: “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—” Can you expand on the meaning of this verse in the context of the passage (did the serpent speak part of the truth earlier in the passage, or is this just a verbal play on what the serpent had said?) and in the context of what you believe the Bible teaches about redeemed humanity and the image of God. (I realize I could have asked via a comment to the video, but this is an issue a wide range of Bible readers, with different levels of familiarity with the scriptures, find perplexing, and a video might be helpful.)
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Transcript of the Eighth Day of Christmas: Pharaoh and the Magicians
One of my supporters has very kindly transcribed this video, the eighth of my series for the twelve days of Christmas. I don’t have time to transcribe my videos myself, so anyone willing to volunteer to transcribe one video every week or fortnight would be greatly appreciated! The transcript is very lightly edited at a few points for the purpose of comprehension.
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Transcript for the Sixth Day of Christmas: Herod, the Wronged Villain
One of my supporters has very kindly transcribed this video, the seventh of my series for the twelve days of Christmas. I don’t have time to transcribe my videos myself, so anyone willing to volunteer to transcribe one video every week or fortnight would be greatly appreciated! The transcript is very lightly edited at a few points for the purpose of comprehension.
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Human Sacrifice and Divine Wrath in 2 Kings 3
I was reading 2 Kings 3 which discusses the war with Moab, and I was struck by how the story ends – Elisha seems to prophesy success, at least he counsels engagement, Israel does succeed, but at the end King Mesha sacrifices his son and “great wrath” comes against Israel, driving them back. Two questions arose from this ending. What do you think is going on in this story, as it ends abruptly and unexpectedly? And how do you make sense of the victory that seems directly linked to child sacrifice? The ESV study Bible comment claims that this great wrath must have been the wrath of the Moabites, but that interpretation doesn’t sit well with me given the way the text invoked a kind of “divine passive” of sorts. Do you think there is some sort of real demonic response here? How might that affect the way we view the competing gods of the Old Testament and the competing spiritual practices of the present day?
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Theopolis Podcast: Paths to Human Maturity, An Interview with Dr David Field
In this episode of the Theopolis Podcast, Peter Leithart and I are joined by Dr David Field, to discuss his work in the area of psychology and counselling. Dr Field’s work has been vigorously discussed on the Theopolis blog (see this opening post and the responses linked at the top) and elsewhere over the last month.
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 Podcast’ link in the bar above.
Numbering the Tribes
Could you clarify for lay readers of the Bible (who might be getting confused or forgetting things from one book to another) by giving an overview of how the tribes of Israel are numbered as twelve, and differences between how the tribes are numbered (or in how they are named) throughout the biblical narrative?
Transcript for the Sixth Day of Christmas: Joseph the Dreamer
One of my supporters has very kindly transcribed this video, the sixth of my series for the twelve days of Christmas. I don’t have time to transcribe my videos myself, so anyone willing to volunteer to transcribe one video every week or fortnight would be greatly appreciated! The transcript is very lightly edited at a few points for the purpose of comprehension.
Continue reading “Transcript for the Sixth Day of Christmas: Joseph the Dreamer”
Transcript for the Fifth Day of Christmas: Rachel, Desolate and Restored
One of my supporters has very kindly transcribed this video, the fifth of my series for the twelve days of Christmas. I don’t have time to transcribe my videos myself, so anyone willing to volunteer to transcribe one video every week or fortnight would be greatly appreciated! The transcript is very lightly edited at a few points for the purpose of comprehension.
Continue reading “Transcript for the Fifth Day of Christmas: Rachel, Desolate and Restored”
Adversaria Videos and Podcasts 