Ineffable bawdiness

This post is sort of a minor policy exception, since our book and the blog have really chosen not to focus on material that speculates on the behavior or personal faith of members of U2, but the article is so interesting in its analysis I have to link it. Kate Bowman, Student Activities Coordinator at Calvin College (yes, this college), writes for Catapult Magazine about the alternating American evangelical approach/avoidance dance with Bono. "I'm truly perplexed when people are shocked and dismayed over a stray expletive or a lap dance anymore - have they not noticed how Bono conducts himself when he's not working for AIDS initiatives and writing biblical allusions into his music (and sometimes when he is)? The man is nothing if not a Rock Star." In the process, she reclaims a wonderful English adjective, pays a visit to Buechner, and checks in with the theology of the incarnation. More: Although a number of traditions (including the Reformed one) have a robust theology of the body, most of us came to faith in an environment with its moral roots in Puritanism and its philosophical moorings in Platonism. Both dichotomize spirit from flesh, soul from body; I will let you take a wild guess at which one of those is considered essentially good and which is essentially evil. Yet the vilification of the earthbound is not what Jesus had in mind when he dwelt among us in the flesh.
Not sold yet? This is a promise: If you are a Christian and a U2 fan, you really need the closing Madeleine L'Engle quote.