Sarah Irving-Stonebraker: re-enchanting the ahistorical age

In our age of self-invention, we are profoundly disconnected from the history that once gave us identity.

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

A woman sitting in an empty church talks to the camera and gestures with one hand.

Listen now

Sarah Irving-Stonebraker is an Australian historian whose new book Priests of History: stewarding the past in an ahistoric age, says that, in our age of self-invention, modern people are profoundly disconnected from the stories, practises and history that once gave them their identity.

Justin and Belle talk to Sarah about re-enchanting an ahistorical age and about her own journey from atheism to Christianity as a young academic at Cambridge and Oxford in the early 2000s.

Visit Sarah Irving-Stonebraker's web site. https://www.stonebraker.com.au/

Watch now

Podcast

Podcasts

Seen & Unseen Aloud

23 June 2025

1 min read

Love is not an order, who prays, and The Salt Path

Exploring love from three very different perspectives

Natalie Garrett

Natalie produces and narrates The Seen & Unseen Aloud podcast. She's an Anglican minister and a trained actor.

A protester wearing a Union Jack flag and hat and holding a cross, points while a man looks on.

Far right protesters, Portsmouth.

Tim Sheerman-Chase, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Listen now

In this episode we explore love from three very different perspectives: Barnabas Apsray considers Christian Nationalism - is it an oxymoron? Roger Bretherton talks about how 1-in-4 people pray or meditate daily and how beneficial that is to their life; Roger Standing walks us through The Salt Path - from real life to book to movie - the story of love against all odds and what it teaches us about ourselves.

Support this podcast

Since Spring 2023, thousands of people have enjoyed hundreds of podcast episodes and over 1,500 articles.

All for free.

This is made possible through the generosity of our amazing community of supporters.

If you enjoy Seen & Unseen Aloud, would you consider making a gift towards our work?

Do so by joining Behind The Seen. Alongside other benefits, you’ll receive an extra fortnightly email from me sharing my reading and reflections on the ideas that are shaping our times.

Graham Tomlin
Editor-in-Chief

Pledge now