Kester Brewin

Tag: Culture

  • Power Religion | Food | The Hunter-Gatherer Eucharist [1]

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    KB
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    It’s been out for about a decade now, but I finally got round to reading Jared Diamonds’ book Guns, Germs and Steel. I think it’s excellent. The basic thesis, for those who haven’t read it, is that humanity, having developed out of the same group of lucky apes a long time back, has obviously developed…

  • Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton: Dynasty or Democracy?

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    In my recent post about predictions for 2008, I was (not) surprised to find most of the debate being around the comment of the collapse of the Emerging project. Actually, I think it’ll be more about the language changing, but hey. What garnered no comment was the prediction about ’08 being the year when people…

  • 2008 will be about…

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    …action on climate change; governments will admit it will hurt …reaction against privacy breaches: overuse of CCTV / government data-loss …reaction against the classical liberal agenda: immigration caps / multiculturalism as a worthy but more-difficult-than-we-thought project / communitarianism …serious criticism of democracy as a way of getting things done …the collapse of the emerging church…

  • Break/Down | D-evolution

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    KB

    A couple of weeks ago my daughter broke her leg. Ouch. I have to say, the A&E (ER) department at the local hospital were brilliant, and the treatment she’s received has been second to none. But as for the administration… Today I had to take her for a follow-up X-ray and consultation. We arrived in…

  • Liverpool Nativity

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    KB

    I just watched the Liverpool Nativity on BBC3 tonight, and it was quite brilliant. This was no cynical re-telling, but a contemporary, serious, politically aware take on the Christmas narrative, writ large as public spectacle. Thousands and thousands had turned out to the Dockside to join the spectacle, performed live throughout the city. What is…

  • Bethlehem Speaks in Many Tongues… ¦ Wi’am

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    KB

    The wonderfully monickered Zoughbi Zoughbi, director of the fantastic Wi’am Palestinian Conflict Resolution Centre in Bethlehem just sent me this short meditation: Every homeless refugee, desperate for a bed for a night, understands the agony of Joseph of Bethlehem. Every frightened teenage girl, pregnant and lost, comprehends the bewilderment of Mary. Every executive, trying to…