"art needs no justification"

Playing catchup: Denis Haack of Ransom Fellowship contributes this U2 article (PDF) in the June 06 issue of By Faith, the web magazine of the Presbyterian Church in America. Called "When Love Comes to Town," the article doesn't assume much knowledge about the band, but is far from superficial from a Christian point of view. The piece includes several interesting things: long quotes from Get Up Off Your Knees contributor Steven Garber... discussion of friend-of-Bono Steve Turner's treatment of the band in his 2001 book Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts (by the way, Haack mentions Turner as a Francis Schaeffer student and draws on Schaeffer for some analysis, but evidently isn't aware of the citations of Schaeffer in 80s issues of U2's now-defunct magazine for their fans)... some fun Luther material... reflections on Haack's own use of U2 with church groups in the early 90s... some generally thoughtful Reformed theological reflection on the band's theological worldview... and this great line: "A whole lot of imaginations bear U2's fingerprints."

Haack has also written for the same magazine on Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash (this one analyzes "The Wanderer" as well.) A couple years ago By Faith also reviewed How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb here.