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

Culture

Podcasts

Seen & Unseen Aloud

17 February 2025

1 min read

New episode: remembrance and romance

Listen now: The 21 - a powerful short film; plans for Grenfell Tower; and the top 5 rom coms.

Natalie Garrett

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

An animated scene shows a dark sky under which prisoners are marched along a river.

Listen now

This week, Belle Tindall talks to us about The 21 - a new and powerful short film telling the story of 21 men killed by ISIS 10 years ago; Graham Tomlin explores the different ways of remembering as plans begin to take down the Grenfell Tower; and Yaroslav Walker takes a stroll through his Top 5 romantic comedy movies of years gone by.