

Alastair's Adversaria
Alastair Roberts
If you would like to support my work, you can do so at https://www.patreon.com/zugzwanged.
Episodes
Mentioned books

6 snips
Mar 4, 2025 • 6min
Characteristics of Dysfunctional Communities
Dive into the intriguing dynamics of dysfunctional communities, where disruptive individuals often dominate the interactions. Discover the differing expressions of dysfunction between masculine and feminine traits. The discussion emphasizes the crucial role of self-regulation and accountability in averting collective failures. Understand how these elements intertwine to shape the very fabric of community life.

Feb 17, 2025 • 1h 26min
Leisure the Basis of Culture (with Christian Leithart and John Ahern)
Christian Leithart and John Ahern join me for a discussion of Josef Pieper's essential essay 'Leisure: the Basis of Culture': https://amzn.to/4317bzk.
Within our discussion, we mention several other books and articles, including the following:
Mark Helprin, 'The Acceleration of Tranquility': https://ayjay.org/helprin.html
C.R. Wiley, 'In the House of Tom Bombadil': https://amzn.to/41jPn0P
Johan Huizinga, 'Homo Ludens': https://amzn.to/3WZxMsn
John Hughes, 'The End of Work: Theological Critiques of Capitalism': https://amzn.to/4jVZYqd
John Ahern, 'The Alienated Man's Guide to Modern Music': https://thelampmagazine.com/issues/issue-21/the-alienated-mans-guide-to-modern-music
Find out more about the work of my guests in the following places:
https://christianleithart.com/
https://goodworkmag.com/
https://littlewordbooks.com/
https://theopolisinstitute.com/te-deum-music-fellows-program/
Follow my Substack, the Anchored Argosy at https://argosy.substack.com/. See my latest podcasts at https://adversariapodcast.com/.
If you have enjoyed my videos and podcasts, please tell your friends. If you are interested in supporting my videos and podcasts and my research more generally, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or by buying books for my research on Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3…3O?ref_=wl_share).
You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035.

Feb 6, 2025 • 39min
Pentecost and the Gift of a New Politics
The following was first published on the Theopolis website: https://theopolisinstitute.com/pentecost-and-the-gift-of-a-new-politics/.
Follow my Substack, the Anchored Argosy at https://argosy.substack.com/. See my latest podcasts at https://adversariapodcast.com/.
If you have enjoyed my videos and podcasts, please tell your friends. If you are interested in supporting my videos and podcasts and my research more generally, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or by buying books for my research on Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3…3O?ref_=wl_share).
You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035.

Jan 23, 2025 • 32min
Symbolic History in the Gospels
The following was first published on my Substack: https://argosy.substack.com/p/19-symbolic-history-in-the-gospels.
Lydia McGrew, 'Explaining away and symbolic details in the Gospels': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnz6-WR21H0&ab_channel=LydiaMcGrew
Jonah Schupbach, 'Conjunctive Explanations and Inference to the Best Explanation': https://www.jstor.org/stable/26874516
Jesus the Bridegroom in John and Revelation: https://argosy.substack.com/i/135349926/jesus-the-bridegroom-in-john
My discussion of Joshua Berman on scriptural history: https://argosy.substack.com/p/11-venetian-sojourn
Follow my Substack, the Anchored Argosy at https://argosy.substack.com/. See my latest podcasts at https://adversariapodcast.com/.
If you have enjoyed my videos and podcasts, please tell your friends. If you are interested in supporting my videos and podcasts and my research more generally, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or by buying books for my research on Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3…3O?ref_=wl_share).
You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035.

Jan 13, 2025 • 47min
Called to Freedom (with Brad Littlejohn)
My friend and colleague Brad Littlejohn has a new book coming out, 'Called to Freedom: Retrieving Christian Liberty in an Age of License': https://amzn.to/40xaMTR. Within this superb short book, B pushes us to think clearly about an issue behind so many others: what is freedom? As our thinking on this is clarified, problems in a host of downstream areas that have been polluted by bad notions of freedom may be considerably relieved.
Follow my Substack, the Anchored Argosy at https://argosy.substack.com/. See my latest podcasts at https://adversariapodcast.com/.
If you have enjoyed my videos and podcasts, please tell your friends. If you are interested in supporting my videos and podcasts and my research more generally, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or by buying books for my research on Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3…3O?ref_=wl_share).
You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035.

Jan 8, 2025 • 15min
The Cosmos in a Tent
The following was first published over on my Substack: https://argosy.substack.com/p/5-the-cosmos-in-a-tent.
Follow my Substack, the Anchored Argosy at https://argosy.substack.com/. See my latest podcasts at https://adversariapodcast.com/.
If you have enjoyed my videos and podcasts, please tell your friends. If you are interested in supporting my videos and podcasts and my research more generally, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or by buying books for my research on Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3…3O?ref_=wl_share).
You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035.

Jan 1, 2025 • 19min
Our God Contracted to a Span
The following was first published over on my Substack: https://argosy.substack.com/p/43-our-god-contracted-to-a-span.
Follow my Substack, the Anchored Argosy at https://argosy.substack.com/. See my latest podcasts at https://adversariapodcast.com/.
If you have enjoyed my videos and podcasts, please tell your friends. If you are interested in supporting my videos and podcasts and my research more generally, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or by buying books for my research on Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3…3O?ref_=wl_share).
You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035.

Dec 26, 2024 • 42min
You Shall Call His Name Joshua
The following was first published over on the Theopolis website: https://theopolisinstitute.com/you-shall-call-his-name-joshua/.
Follow my Substack, the Anchored Argosy at https://argosy.substack.com/. See my latest podcasts at https://adversariapodcast.com/.
If you have enjoyed my videos and podcasts, please tell your friends. If you are interested in supporting my videos and podcasts and my research more generally, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or by buying books for my research on Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3…3O?ref_=wl_share).
You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035.

Dec 19, 2024 • 29min
Did David Rape Bathsheba?
Within this podcast, I mention the following article:
Ezra Sivan, 'The King’s Great Cover-Up and Great Confession': https://thelehrhaus.com/scholarship/the-kings-great-cover-up-and-great-confession/
James Jordan, 'Bathsheba: The Real Story': https://www.biblicalhorizons.com/biblical-horizons/no-93-bathsheba-the-real-story/
Alastair Roberts, 'The Reopened Wounds of David': https://theopolisinstitute.com/the-reopened-wounds-of-jacob/
Alastair Roberts, 'David and His Household in Genesis 38': https://argosy.substack.com/i/102907103/david-and-his-household-in-genesis.
James Bejon, 'How does biblical narrative depict the exploitation of power?': https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/how-does-biblical-narrative-depict-the-exploitation-of-power/
Peter Leithart, 'David's Pharaoh Moment': https://theopolisinstitute.com/leithart_post/davids-pharaoh-moment/
Follow my Substack, the Anchored Argosy at https://argosy.substack.com/. See my latest podcasts at https://adversariapodcast.com/.
If you have enjoyed my videos and podcasts, please tell your friends. If you are interested in supporting my videos and podcasts and my research more generally, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or by buying books for my research on Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3…3O?ref_=wl_share).
You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035.

Dec 18, 2024 • 7min
Advent Absence
The following was first published over on The Anchored Argosy Substack: https://argosy.substack.com/p/42-an-obituary-and-advent.
Follow my Substack, the Anchored Argosy at https://argosy.substack.com/. See my latest podcasts at https://adversariapodcast.com/.
If you have enjoyed my videos and podcasts, please tell your friends. If you are interested in supporting my videos and podcasts and my research more generally, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or by buying books for my research on Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3…3O?ref_=wl_share).
You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035.