Statistical interlude

I just thought I'd pause a minute to note that this blog has reached over 35000 visits. In addition, doubtless due to the immense hype about the U2 iPod, album, Vertigo single and video, and so on (even I am sick of the IPod ad), the Amazon sales rank for Get Up Off Your Knees reached its highest point ever recently: 1698. These things change hourly, of course, and it's on the way down again now -- but we'd never broken 2000 before, even the month the book was released.
(Sorry about the weird duplicate posts; Blogger is being difficult and I don't seem to be able to purge them all....)
(and of course the second I post that, it purges them....)

Another lyric comment

I meant to say this earlier and forgot when I was putting up the last post. The ensuing comment thread with John from Friday Night Running reminded me. I was reading some of the HTDAAB lyrics to my husband, and this conversation ensued....

Him: They really have a thing about the second person, don't they?
Me: That's been going on for ages, the ambiguous "you."
Him: Oh no, I meant the Second Person. Of the Trinity.

[Edit: I'm told by a commenter the lyrics have been taken down now.]

Lyric thoughts

I am not going to say much about the lyrics that have been posted, although I'm provisionally impressed pending hearing more of them with the music for which they were written. However, one comment on the pervasive themes of the writing: so we've got birth, birth, birth, rebirth, and birth, is that it?

I'm also interested that there seem to be not one but two songs addressed to Yahweh, one in Hebrew and one in English.

U2log.com: Complete lyrics to U2's new album

Amidst the blizzard of blogosphere and news posts about the new U2 iPod, I'll duck in and say this: For those who aren't trying to hold out till late November, U2Log has a link to complete lyrics to U2's new album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

Scott Calhoun was kind enough to send me an image of the "Books & Culture" cover for any who may not have seen it. Disclaimer: This blog is not voting for Bono.

"A welcome portrait of what's possible when you have three chords and the truth"

I mentioned earlier that Books & Culture would be running a major piece by Scott Calhoun on Get Up Off Your Knees. It's up today: "The Legend of Bono Vox - Lessons Learned in the Church of U2". Great article. Excerpt:

There are some Christians, of course, who say that the band left behind what was essential to the evangelical life (a squeaky clean lifestyle footnoted with chapter and verse) on their way up. Get Up Off Your Knees clearly refutes such a charge, establishing beyond argument that the band's vision is rooted in Scripture.... Each sermon succeeds in showing that the songs are laced with biblical texts - U2 draws their inspiration most often from the Prophets, the Psalmists, the Gospels, and the Epistles - and themes. The mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. But Get Up Off Your Knees is more than a book of evidence. It isn't a fawning over the band's considerable musical accomplishments or icon status. Nor is it intended as an introductory survey.... The best approach to this book, I think, is to read some of the apparatus first and then drift to whichever sermon catches your eye. Read it as a commonplace book of virtues: a few exhortations at a time should be plenty to work on.

(I agree completely with that advice. In fact, we wanted to put the apparatus first for just that reason and were turned down by our publisher.)

Scott has our number on how hard it was to classify the sermons, but he figures out the schema we ended up being forced to choose quite nicely. (Here too: the original vision was not to have sections, just a flow interrupted by visually-different prose-poems at apt moments; again, the publisher told us no and wanted something more conventional. I think this really did Dylan's poems, which in our original plan were not at all intended as "introductions" to "sections," a major disservice.)

I was fascinated to learn that "the most frequently referenced passages chosen by the contributors are from Psalms, Isaiah, Matthew and John." I'd not thought of tabulating that before.

Of course, I have a few quibbles: pity there was no notice given to the deliberate theological diversity and its rationale (in fact, one odd comment seems both to fault the book for including examples of theological liberalism and to miss how many evangelicals or post-liberals contributed). And sadly Scott's editors don't know that Episcopalian is a noun and Episcopal its adjective... but who does these days, really?

Those are tiny arguments, though. Some great writing about the U2 legend in the middle, and about U2's vision and future near the end. Another bit on the book which, despite the awkward notion of our wanting to "corral" people, I can't resist citing:

I'm glad to see Get Up Off Your Knees make it to print. It's a step toward corralling those in the U2 subculture who feel as though they have been steeped in the same waters of fervent Christian conviction that have energized the band. What promises to set this community apart from many fan groups is that they bring some intellectual heft to the table, and they understand that in the Church of U2, no one should stay a spectator. The title of the book, from the song "Please" on the album Pop, underscores the contributors' desire to see more of us heed the band's call to not just pray for the kingdom to come, but to live like we belong to it now.

Amen.

GetReligion: You guzzle your crutch and shove it up your nose

Any other Steve Taylor fans in the audience? GetReligion chooses one of Taylor's shocking verses as a headline for the suggestion that we all talk about the movie he is apparently filming. I'll do my part.

"Atomic Reaction" Herald Sun article

Another article with lyric quotations and song descriptions from How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Many people come to this blog looking for U2 "Yahweh" lyrics - this article has a few for you. I'm struck both by the echo of the very end of "Surrender" and by a smooth Song of Solomon allusion.

living faith as a way of rock and roll life

Christian Scharen, Associate Director of the Faith as a Way of Life project at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, has some comments on U2 on his blog faithasawayoflife.

Tripp Lanier @ INJournals: Genpo Roshi and U2

In the interest of equal time, here is a Buddhist doing theological reflection on "Vertigo" (if it's appropriate to use that word for a basically non-theistic religion.)

"Bono speech gives inspiration to vicar"

As Derek himself said, journalists are pretty unimaginative on topics like this one:"Idol," "Rocking reverend," and so on. But what the hey, Africa got some press.

A new teaching, and with authority

The Oct 10th sermon at Jacob's Well, a spiritual community in Missouri, used a comparison between U2 and the band that opened for them in Kansas City as an illustration of the passage from Mark which speaks of Jesus "teaching with authority, not like the scribes."
"When U2 comes onstage there is just another thing happening. ...The arena might be this big, but they occupy every bit of that space... they just have this authority in that space that makes the whole arena come alive," Tim Keel commented. "...I just remember sitting back there going: Where do you get that kind of authority?" The audio of the sermon is here (For those of you who aren't in it for the Gospel of Mark, the U2 content is from 7:23 - 9:45.) [Edit: thanks to the folks at Jacob's Well for letting me know they renamed this file since I first posted the link.]

U2 new album piece in Blender: "It Could Be About God..."

I've been avoiding blogging much of the press that's sprouting up everywhere about U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. But this example I think I'll link, both for the article and the sidebar. A few comments: Do I read it right that "I've been born again, and again and again and again" is a new lyric? Interesting description of the "Yahweh" text: "A modern hymn with a broadband connection to God." And this, from the Edge: "These are the most direct and concise lyrics we've done...there's no hiding behind mysterious metaphors." And one more comment: The quote that gives the track-by-track sidebar its title sounds, obviously and instantly, like a Bono line. Except the person who said it was Adam Clayton.

Eoghan Heaslip - Grace in the Wilderness

I heard recently that Eoghan Heaslip who leads worship at CORE Church Dublin, son of the Anglican priest Jack Heaslip who has had a pastoral role with U2 since before the beginning, has a new CD out. Called Grace in the Wilderness, it's been available since mid-September. I learned from the site linked above (where you can hear excerpts), that Eoghan Heaslip also opened for seeming-pal-o'Bono Michael W. Smith's European dates on his last tour. Here's a review of the CD.

U2's new song and the book of Job

Rudy at Urban Onramps reflects on a line from "Vertigo," Job, and his own experience of suffering. Don't miss the comments, either.

Faith and the Top 40

Here's an article from the St. Petersburg Times called "Faith and the Top 40." It looks at the growing overlap between "Christian" and "secular" music recently and talks about how difficult it is to label people as artists. R. Kelly and Kanye West are featured. I was struck by this excerpt:

Bonner, senior writer for GospelFlava.com, recently wrote an editorial praising Kelly's CD. Christians shouldn't try to determine if Kelly's lifestyle qualifies him to sing about God, he said. "Really, what qualifies one to sing the good news of Jesus Christ is having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ," Bonner said. "When you hear what R. Kelly is saying in the U Saved Me album, there's no way he can say this without having a relationship with Christ."

I'm keeping my mouth shut about R. Kelly, but how different would things be if more Christian people had been making a similar point about U2 from the start, instead of raking them over the coals for the last 2 decades?

Pastor rocks religion with U2

An article from the Des Moines Register features a pastor who is using the U2 Bible study in the back of Get Up Off Your Knees.

Sacred Journey and Pastor Pat

One blogger (Sacred Journey) points out another (Pastor Pat) saying how the O'Reilly interview with Bono is "an excellent example of how a Christian speaks to the world about issues without becoming entangled in party politics."

Looking Closer review of U2's new single "Vertigo"

Not surprisingly, Jeffrey Overstreet, who writes on film for Christianity Today as well as participating broadly in other arts & faith conversations, pretty much has Vertigo's number.