One and Other
From noisy neighbours to nervous political coalitions, fears about immigration, racism, fundamentalism and international terrorism – our fear of engaging “the other” is at the heart of so many...
Speaker(s): Kester BrewinCongregational Monasticism
Karen Ward is the urban abbess of Church of the Apostles, Seattle, which meets in the Fremont Abbey, an arts and community abbey for the Fremont neighbourhood of Seattle. An exploration of how new...
We are strange: God is stranger
Bookshops are full of argument and counter-argument between atheists and Christians, but what could theology actually learn from a ‘new physics' that has given us parallel universes, multiple...
Speaker(s): Kester BrewinA plea for Christian piracy
They make corporations' blood boil, and children's pulses race: what is it about pirates that remains perennially fascinating, and what possibly could our faith learn from Somalian bandits, 17th...
Speaker(s): Kester BrewinCan Obama pull off a two-state solution?
Many peace activists in Palestine/Israel believe that the two-state solution is gone, buried under the massive Israeli settlement blocs. Obama's last-ditch effort seems the last chance. What...
Speaker(s): Jeff HalperChanging something so that everything remains the same
The church is awash with expressions of faith that appear to challenge church life. But what if these ‘new forms' are actually ensuring that nothing really changes? Peter explores the possibility...
Comedy in the Bible
The Bible is not generally considered a funny book. In fact, much comedy has been derived from its seriousness. And yet the Bible contains Whitehall farces, knock-about slapstick, wordplay, and...
Speaker(s): James CaryThe Tragedy of the Prodigal Son: Pirates, rebellion and the fight for the commons
The story of the prodigal son has been commonly narrated as a story of beautiful redemption, but what if the son's failure to escape his father's empire was read as a tragedy? Drawing on Star...
Speaker(s): Kester BrewinReshaping Christian history for reader and viewer
Diarmaid MacCulloch's History of Christianity refocused readers and viewers on that fact that our faith is an Eastern religion. Here he discusses how its centre might easily have been Baghdad...
Lazarus Come Forth
John Dear reflects on the warmaking which is destroying the world, and the creative nonviolence which offers a way out. He considers Jesus' nonviolence which is at the heart of Christianity, and...
Clean Cut Kid
Clean Cut Kid are a contemporary indie-pop act who mix classic melodies with sonic adventurousness and deliver defiant pop hooks with an emotionally-charged fragility. Listeners of a certain vintage...
Second set of lineup names for GB 2017
So, here's another crop of great names for this year's Greenbelt Festival programme – as eclectic and wide-ranging as you might have come to expect from us. After all, when you're exploring a theme...
47 Soul
The music of 47SOUL takes Dabke – the traditional Palestinian street music and dance – to a whole new place. Deploying analogue synths, trance-inducing guitar lines and a mixture of Arabic and...
The 9 Beats Collective: Heatherlyn
Originally from the East Coast of Maine, Heatherlyn made her home in the Midwest USA (Minneapolis, Minnesota) and regularly contributes music in communities seeking to be peace and compassion in the...
The 9 Beats Collective: Reverend Vince Anderson
Vince serves as a pastor and musician at three New York City churches. Currently setting the book of Psalms to music, he describes his music as "dirty gospel"....