Greenbelt 09 Talks

Unable to get to Greenbelt this year (theme: Standing in the Long Now), I've been eagerly scanning the talks available on CD or MP3 download from the website. I'm looking forward to hearing Kester Brewin's talks in advance of his next book (hopefully available next year some time), as well as Mark Vernon (my partner Sim happened across his book, After Atheism, yesterday). And, as ever, Pete Rollins' contributions. In particular, I'm going to fork out for:

• Church Without Borders, Dave Tomlinson


• How to be a Religious Agnostic, Mark Vernon


• We Are Strange; God is Stranger, Kester Brewin


• The Birth of Christianity and the Death of Meaning, Pete Rollins


• A Plea for Christian Piracy, Kester Brewin


• Justice is Not Christian, Nigel Varndell


• How Not to Believe, Maggi Dawn, Pete Rollins, Roman Krznaric, and Mark Vernon.

Lots of academics also give talks at Greenbelt - this year included Ursula King (Bristol, and SOAS) who I met when I organised an international conference on Gender and Spiritual Praxis in Asian Contexts at Lancaster in 2006, and Andrew Tate (Lancaster). Other academics that I know and whose work I use or have used that have also spoken at Greenbelt include Kristin Aune (Derby), Grace Davie (Exeter), Tina Beattie (Roehampton) and Jolyon Mitchell (Edinburgh). Greenbelt is a fantastic place for disseminating research and I hope to be able to do something next year... if my proposal(s) get accepted.