In celebration of 20 years since the first Harry Potter book was published, I thought it’d be a good chance to look back to one of my own offerings in which I offered a radical reading of Potter’s relationship to his magical art. During a short speaking tour on Mutiny in the US with Peter Rollins,
Read on »Philosophy
On Football as Socialism, Pentecost, and ‘Keeping Death in your Mouth’
Russell Brand is very often an annoying tool, but (once you get past the annoying first 10 mins) this podcast episode with Simon Critchley is stunning. Spinoza, Aristotle and the complexities of hating Frank Lampard, plus the ontology of West Ham, time dilation and why football is socialism. Not to mention Pentecost, keeping death in
Read on »Mark Fisher
Not sure how I missed this in January, but genuinely saddened to hear that Mark Fisher has died. Very open about his struggles with mental health, he took his own life. There’s a fantastic summary of his huge influence on cultural theory here, and also here. On a more personal level, I was hugely impressed
Read on »Can We Talk About Radical Theology and Alcohol?
In the past few posts about the bigger political, technological and cultural shifts that might be going on behind the ‘fake news’ scandal, I’ve proposed how Radical Theology might have in helping people to critique political and religious illusions. However, I’ve also mooted that Radical Theology could itself become a means by which the hard
Read on »Creating Freedom, by Raoul Martinez
This looks like a very worthwhile read. Comes highly recommended, and if you’re interested in understanding and acting in these strange times, sounds like one for the Christmas list. From the review in The Guardian: Creating Freedom is, in part, a mashup of Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, James Lovelock’s The Revenge of Gaia, Thomas
Read on »What I’m still trying to work out is why Santa gives more expensive presents to kids from more wealthy families…
Go figure 😉 –//– Click here to receive updates, and hear first about new projects
Read on »Post Truth | Hypernormalisation and the Radical Response
In a post last week on the ‘Fake News’ scandal and the way that our information sources have become distorted, narrowed and – some now claim – deliberately confused by digital algorithms, I concluded by saying: In the chaos of this truthless mental and political environment, we more naturally turn to brands for security, to
Read on »In Our Time | The Best Free Education on the Planet | Welcoming Caitlin Moran
Have said it too many times I know, but the BBC Radio 4 show In Our Time is, I’m convinced, the single best free education available on the planet. Expert discussions on art, philosophy, history, mathematics, science and religion… Hence no surprise to read Caitlin Moran’s confession of her IoT addiction in The Times this
Read on »The World’s Most Godless City
Interesting piece here: http://gu.com/p/5ehmc?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other –//– Click here to receive updates, and hear first about new projects
Read on »Radical Politics: Position and Momentum
Earlier today, Cameron Freeman – who runs a Facebook group on Radical Theology responded to something I’d posted about Nigel Farage’s resignation with the following: Kester, I’d really like to hear sometime how do you mesh your (very) radical theology with you’re support for the centralized undemocratic control of an external top-down power like the
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