Welcome to Alastair’s Adversaria. I previously blogged at alastair.adversaria and 40 Bicycles. This blog will provide a home for my occasional and various thoughts, links, and notes on my reading. While you may struggle to find a unifying theme here, my thoughts will frequently return to the subjects of biblical theology, the sacraments, and Christian ethics.
My name is Alastair Roberts. I am a student in Durham, in the north of England: the 30+ photos in the header are all taken within a half hour’s walk of where I live. In addition to the subjects mentioned above, I am passionate about word games, English cricket, cathedral cities, long walks, and second hand bookstores.
I would love to hear more about you! Why not introduce yourself in the comments?
Dear Alastair,
I have just read your excellent blog on the Scottish Gay Marriage Consultation on Archbishop Cranmer’s blog site and was hoping you might be able to pen a few more articles on homosexuality and gay marriage in general; I would be very interested in reading about your view on homosexuality and human rights as well as well as your response to the latest speech from Hilary Clinton re. the U.S’s intention to be a strong advocate for global LGBT rights.
Thanks for leaving a comment, Richard. I have just sent you an e-mail.
Are you at Durham uni? That picture looks suspiciously like Durham cathedral!
If so, could be good to meet up. I go to church there, and am a theologian by academic training
I am. I have just sent you an e-mail.
Would love to chat with you more. Enjoyed the twitter back and forth and it’s really helping me grasp the scope of the gospel
G’day Alastair. I’m appreciating your writings. You have gone to considerable trouble to express your thoughts. It has been worth the effort. Please keep doing it. It’s really worthwhile. 1 Corinthians 15:58 ὁ κόπος ὑμῶν οὐκ ἔστιν κενὸς ἐν κυρίῳ. (1Co 15:58)
I have found many posts stimulating, but especially the ones concerning Jared Wilson’s use of Doug Wilson’s Fidelity.
Thanks, David! There are a few more of those to come.
Hello Alistair! We met at Tenth Church a week ago.. I am friends with Paul and Sylvia. I think you met our whole family..or at least Sarah, with me pointing out the rest down the pew…. I have enjoyed reading your latest comments, and hope to spend some time perusing the rest as time allows! We are glad to have met you! Sorry we didn’t have the opportunity to have you stop in to visit our old house! Hope you and your Dad are continuing to enjoy your trip.
Thanks, Cheryl! It was great to meet you all on Sunday, though a pity that we didn’t have greater time in which to become acquainted. Lord-willing, I will be returning to Philadelphia at some point in the next few years.
We are very much enjoying our trip. Today was spent in Monument Valley, yesterday at the Grand Canyon. I hope to blog about the trip here when I have a better connection!
Hi Alastair , may i ask what you are studying in school?
My work is on the Red Sea crossing as a motif in baptismal liturgy. My work focuses on the relationship between typology and the sacraments.
Hi Alastair.
Found your blog a while ago through a combination of Brad Littlejohn and the Wilson/Held Evans stuff. I’m currently appreciating your ‘A Year of Biblical Womanhood’ review – pretty spot on in my opinion (not that my opinion means much!)
Thanks for this and for other great posts.
Thank you, Ruth! If I am correct and he is who I think that he is (your surname is an unusual one!), your husband may remember me. I visited and stayed with his parents several years ago and met him then.
There should be another instalment of the YBW review posted this evening.
Alastair, great blog here…came upon it from Googling orthodox alexithymia…would love to ask some questions in a private email. Cheers…
Dear Alastair,
Wow! I’ve just come across your blog for the first time as I was researching the background to von Balthasar’s thoughts on Adam’s participation in the creation of Eve as a kenotic act of the first adam. What an amazing resource!
I also blog as I make my way through postgraduate studies, on quite related themes it would seem, but I am no where near as productive as you!
Congratulations.
Chelle
Thanks for commenting, Chelle! Great to have you here.
I would love to hear more about your work: you seem to be dealing with some fascinating themes! I have added your blog to my Google Reader.
The creation narrative of Genesis 2 is actually something that I was reflecting upon rather closely recently. There are lots of fascinating things going on there and many themes that are taken up later in the text. I will have to revisit von Balthasar on the subject. It would be great to hear any thoughts that you might have on the subject.
I do love to read widely, which might be a challenge 6 months from now when I have to start writing something succinct for the PhD!
Basically, I am developing an argument for a mystical hermeneutic for public conversations about God, religion and ethics, that is Love as Revelation. So, I read about love because I hope to show how it works as an analogy for a certain epistemology; and I read mystics and mystical philosophy/theology because I’m trying to show that is fits firmly within orthodox Christian theology; and I read public theology because that is my application context.
Ambitious? So said the examining panel who approved the topic – but a fantastic amount of fun!
Chelle
Believe me, I quite understand the struggle of trying to produce a tight and disciplined PhD out of rather feral reading habits (if you have any tips, please share them…)!
Your project does indeed sound ambitious: to my mind, the best projects always are. I await with interest what you come up with and hearing about your thoughts on the subject as they develop!
Hello, Alastair. My name is Dzmitry Kastsiuchenka, I live in the city of Minsk in Belarus.
I am interested in Christianity, in particular by Anabaptists, the Amish and Mennonites.
Your blog I found in google-plus Ribbon when searching for topics that interest me.
English is not my native language, if there are errors, I apologize.
Great to have you here, Dzmitry! Thanks for leaving a comment.
can i sign up for an email alert when you’ve posted a new post? if so then where? thanks – ha ha just saw the tick box as i was about to post comment
Hello Alastair,
Are you on Facebook? I would like to link to you there if you post on subjects discussed here.
Kind regards,
Janine
I don’t have a personal account on Facebook. I use Twitter for most things.
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Hi Alistair,
I edit MercatorNet http://www.mercatornet.com/, an on-line magazine which runs out of Sydney.
I saw your piece on Google Reader and found it quite interesting.
Would it be possible to post a slightly abridged version of it on MercatorNet, with due credit? We liked your more philosophical ruminations on the internet and I think that our writers will, too. We can send you the edited version for your approval. You might benefit a bit as well, as it would be useful publicity for your blog.
Cheers,
Michael Cook, editor, MercatorNet
Dear Alastair,
Do you know of any reliable sources documenting the objections that Christians apparently used to promote segregated marriage? It strikes me that those who are wielding this as a club in the SSM debate generally have little to no idea of what the objections actually were, and are guilty of a slippery slope themselves in implying that if we reject SSM we must reject interracial marriage.
Thank you
Joshua
Thanks for the comment, Joshua.
Unfortunately, I can’t help you here. I would be interested to see if anyone else can provide sources. I think that the analogy between the two is quite specious, as I argue here.