"not only cries out against injustice, but also dares to imagine an alternative"

I'm always happy to get emails pointing out some article I may not have seen, so thanks to Steve Harmon for letting me know about his "U2: Unexpected Prophets" (PDF), found in the "Singing Our Lives" issue of Christian Reflection, a publication of the Baylor University Center for Christian Ethics. Steve's article considers U2's work under the rubrics of "Grounded Implicitly in Worship," "Steeped in the Biblical Story," "Portraying the Triune God," "Sharing Christian Hope," "Basing Salvation in Grace," and "Calling for Prophetic Social Engagement"; of course, you know I'm going to nod at the 4th section, where the observation is made that "a tension between the already and the not yet... is the key theological concept for understanding the spiritual significance of U2's music." I blogged about a previous U2 analysis by the same author here, and he helped us all out with some patristics vocabulary in a comment to this post. The article is kind enough to cite Get Up Off Your Knees (which got a little bump in sales with all the Bono National Prayer Breakfast stuff yesterday; thanks, folks) as a recommended book.

There is also an accompanying lesson plan (also PDF) including Bible conections, a cool reading from Augustine, discussion questions, and a closing hymn.