Kester Brewin

One of the things I like about the web is that one can drop a pebble into it… and the ripples appear elsewhere.
For those (few, I know) who may have followed here but not elsewhere, there has been quite a lot of reaction to the posts on piracy, mostly ignited by Richard Sudworth’s repost to [...]

[ Piracy 1 ] | [ Piracy 2 ] | [ Piracy 3 ] | [ Piracy 4 ] | [ Piracy 5 ] [ Piracy 6 ]

We began this series with a question – why is it that we are happy to allow our children to go to pirate parties, and involve themselves in [...]

[ Piracy 1 ] | [ Piracy 2 ] | [ Piracy 3 ] | [ Piracy 4 ] | [ Piracy 5 ]

What pirates do, as a rule, is emerge from the underbelly of a ’stuck’ orthodoxy and, by way of actions that are initially perceived as heretical, reinvigorate that practice. The heresy of [...]

[ Piracy 1 ] | [ Piracy 2 ] | [ Piracy 3 ] | [ Piracy 4 ]

Captain Mission’s capture of a Dutch slaver, and his demand that those who claimed an enlightened view of God should have a more enlightened view of the whole of humanity, can be seen as a signifier of [...]

[ Piracy 1 ] [ Piracy 2 ] [ Piracy 3 ]

Pirates are so hated by corporations because they represent a critique of the capitalist establishment, an insurrection by those who have been marginalised by the supertanker of economic growth and greed. It is well known that pirates robbed ships and made off with booty. [...]

[ Piracy 1 ] | [ Piracy 2 ]

In the previous two posts I’ve been trying to build an argument that piracy functions not as the enemy of all mankind (hostis humanis generis) but as the shadow of mankind: umbris humanis generis. As rebels against a social order that is oppressing them, those who turn [...]

[ Piracy 1 ]
In the previous post I set out the tension between the godly meditations that St Paul urged us to – whatever is good, and pure etc. – and the raucously popular stories about pirates that outsold everything else in a bookshop around St Paul’s Cathedral. In Captain Johnson’s A General History of [...]

Just got back from Greenbelt yesterday, and rather shocked to have to go into work today after 7 or so weeks summer holiday. It was a fantastic festival, with an excellent mix of talks from all angles and eclectic music too. Good hang out a bit with Rob Bell, Roman Krznaric as well as old [...]

Really looking forward to being at Greenbelt again this coming weekend. The programme – from the talks to the music to the comedy to the campaigning is as strong as ever and, I feel, has a nice edge to it too. (Full talks listings here)
For those who are going to be there, I’m going to [...]