We pause for a quick.....

...welcome to folks who are visiting from the Green Day forum.

Breaking my usual policy for this fantastic quote:

Christendom is telling us that God is dead, but I'm thinking Christendom is dead and our little combo has been hired to play at the funeral.
- Bono (U2 by U2, p. 120)

Hearing, they hear not

Had a great time at the Gordon College conference today and enjoyed several papers, but since this is a U2 blog I'll comment briefly on only the one dealing with the band. Using John 8:47, Jim Farrell started with a quick background making sure we were all aware of how U2's work evidenced a "Christian imagination set against a Biblical landscape, sometimes articulated with subtlety" but difficult to miss for any Biblically literate listener. He then moved on to cite a whole list of recent articles that didn't deal with the work's Christian content at all, as well as some that acknowledged but mocked it.

But the main thrust was to demonstrate how the media define the band in terms of alternative, more culturally acceptable narratives in order to airbrush out all theological specificity ( because they either dislike it, or are just incapable of seeing it). Three common airbrushed readings of U2 he mentioned were

• as representing a broadly secularized, so-called "spiritual but not religious," generically uplifting inspiration, "idealism" or "transcendence" with no actual content
  
• as representing a highly successful capitalist project, people with business acumen, stars, "celebs" (positively or negatively)
  
• as representing a passion for politics, embodying the rock 'n' roll challenge of the status quo by being "socially conscious".

It was amusing then to hear some longer excerpts from the media, such as the intro of the band from a recent 60 Minutes feature and an AP article on Bono's National Prayer Breakfast speech, and note how they rushed to promote these alternative narratives and "distort, suppress, and occlude" all Christian specificity. The paper concluded with an apt citation from Bono citing one risk of U2's use of Christian material: "We recognize the power of the media to manipulate those signs." Indeed.

I said to Jim after that I'd enjoy seeing a similar rhetorical analysis of the religious press' treatment of the band, since I'm guessing one would find some already-existing narratives in the minds of many Christian writers into which U2 is made to fit as well.

Classroom resource

I found it sweet to read the teaching activity from USA Today for classroom use (scroll to page 2) based on their U2 by U2 review and excerpt last week. Excerpt follows (by the way I think this could be a really salutary learning activity not just for kids, but for the masses of religious and secular leaders who seem unwilling to admit a difference between respecting others and agreeing with them):
Bono explains that the lyrics from the song 'One' were inspired by a reply he sent to the Dalai Lama declining an invitation to participate in a festival called Oneness. He responded saying, 'One — but not the same.' Explain how this concept applies to human beings. Then, find an example in today’s paper that illustrates how two people, two groups, etc. are both one, but not the same. Share your example in class, and explain its meaning.
VOCABULARY: underpinning consensus improvising

Another location using the book's U2 Bible study

It was nice to hear that Christ Church United Church of Christ (yes, that's the correct name) in Elizabethtown PA, USA is offering the Bible study series in the back of Get Up Off Your Knees on Sunday evenings through Oct 29. (The anchor isn't working, but you'll see it listed on their events page.) If you happen to be in that area, why not check it out? And thanks to the folks on the Zootopia forums for getting the leader connected with me.

Rebirth, New Birth

The whole video of U2 and Green Day doing "The Saints Are Coming" (along with "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and some of "Beautiful Day") is now available on YouTube. I applaud lots of sites for trying to discourage MP3s and make very sure people support Music Rising by purchasing a copy of the audio track, but for those who couldn't see either the ESPN broadcast or the USA-only, RealMedia proprietary stream, it's nice to watch and listen to U2 and Green Day and know what all the fuss was about (at least in low-quality.)

I've seen a fair amount of discussion on the lyric changes in "Beautiful Day," which appeared to me to be typical of the way bands often add local references; but oddly no one seems interested in the changes in "The Saints Are Coming," which I found much more thoughtful. For example:

ORIGINAL:
A drowning sorrow floods the deepest grief/ How long now
Til a weather change condemns belief?/ The stone says
This paternal guide once had his day/ Once had his day.

U2/Green Day;
A drowning sorrow floods the deepest grief/ How long now
Til a weather change condemns belief?/ How long now?
The night watchman let in the thief/ What's wrong now?

In the original, the belief that's being condemned seems to be belief in "this paternal guide," the "Daddy" who's got his phone off the hook in verse one. In the new version I think, read in context, the narrator is losing faith instead in leaders whose duty was to protect citizens in the event of natural disasters but who dropped the ball -- "letting in the thief" instead of upholding the trust they were given. ("What's wrong" with that picture?) This line also strengthens the eschatological tone of the song and evokes Biblical "last day" passages like this (from Jesus) and this (from Paul, perhaps more directly related). It's also an image U2 have already used back in a day when we all thought the world was going to really end in a nuclear war any month now.

And then there was the new topical verse:
We're living like birds in the magnolia trees
Child on the rooftop, mother on her knees.
Her sign reads "Please -- I Am An American!"

While much of the media I've seen has been full of excitement about the event, some commentators were voicing criticism of the fact that whole neighborhoods are still in ruins yet there seems to be money and energy for a festive reopening of the Superdome (here's one example.) While I understand the importance of joyous public celebrations, these lyrics also make clear that you really can't claim U2/Green Day were mindlessly cheerleading about rebirth in New Orleans without asking any deeper political questions.

Occasio: Theology, Culture and U2: The Course Begins

Tim gives his first rundown of how things have been going in his "Theology, Culture and U2" course at Fresno Pacific, explaining required assignments and posting a syllabus (PDF).

Cultural studies conference at Gordon College

There are so many interesting sessions at the Christ in Cultures conference happening next weekend at Gordon College that, while I'm glad I signed up to attend, I realize I'll have to miss about half of what I'd like to hear. Among the titles that draw my attention: "eBay Acheiropoietai: The 'Image Not Made By Hands' in Contemporary Culture," "Everyday Saviors: Representations of Rescue and Salvation in Movies by Percy Adlon and Wim Wenders," "Layering the Religious Landscape of Canadian Multiculturalism: The Christ Stratum in Life of Pi," "Can Christ Be Seen in the Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, a Preacher’s Kid?", "What Does Kanye West Know About Jesus? Hip-Hop, Contemporary Black Culture and the Imagined Christ," and "Jesus Can't Play Rugby: Religious Parody and Christic Respect among Subversive Subcultures." But come on, you know in Concurrent Session 3 there's basically no chance I'm going to end up anywhere but at "The Gospel According to Bono: Presenting Christ in the Music of U2."

[Edit: having now heard a general description from the speaker, James M. Ferrell from UNH, I will definitely end up there, since a main focus will be on discussing how well - or poorly - reviews of HTDAAB, press on the Vertigo tour, and reports on Bono's National Prayer Breakfast speech took account of the theological material these three things contain. ...Yeah. Now there's a topic! Just for fun here are two old related posts: my favorite example of HTDAAB theological point-missing from the Boston Phoenix, and then for a palate cleanser, Jeffrey Overstreet demonstrating what someone who knows what U2 are on about can notice.]

As far as I can tell registration for the Gordon conference is still open. If you're attending this and would like to connect with me, just email.

Above Us Only Sky: On Camus, U2, Lennon, Rock, and Rilke

I don't believe I ever linked this, but I just found the 18-month-old recommendation of it from a reader who drily commented, "not your typical lightweight 'U2 offer spiritual show!' article." So here's an allusion-packed, long, dense piece called Above Us Only Sky: On Camus, U2, Lennon, Rock, and Rilke. Some statements I'd question and a U2 inaccuracy or two... but also some connections that bear thinking about. (Also, it made me nod by using the French word engagé about U2, a perfect adjective for them and one for which I've never found a good translation.)

"Rock of Ages" essay from Smyth & Helwys

(Archived) advice from Keith Gammons, book acquisitions editor at Smyth & Helwys Publishing on using popular music in youth ministry. There's one U2 reference, which is how the link came to my attention, but it's a set of principles that apply generally, e.g. "teach youth to listen to music with ears informed by the scriptural witness, not so that they will condemn what they hear, but so that they can better translate the messages that the world-at-large [is] conveying. When we allow Scripture and biblical lessons to bleed over into how we listen and understand the music around us ... and the same must be said for how we view other types of media as well ... our youth will feel the presence of Christ engaged with their culture, not simply against it."

Veritas Forum event

The Veritas Forum offers a presentation on "Who Will Solve the Problem of Poverty? Bono, Bill Gates, You?" delivered at the Veritas event at Columbia University this year. You can listen or watch, or download for later. Featured are Jeffrey Sachs, Larry Reed of Opportunity International, and author Vinoth Ramachandra of Sri Lanka. Part 2, a brief discussion, is here.

Sept. 11, 2001: Peace on Earth

I can't think of a better way for this blog to observe the 5th anniversary of 9/11 than re-posting a column that went around at the time, and many repsonses to it.

[edit: well, except maybe this.]

Sign on the door

Welcome to folks from Tim Neufeld's U2 class at Fresno Pacific. It's kind of odd and fun to be one of your course assignments. Sorry I don't have topic tags for you!

How long now till the clouds unroll and you come home?

Wednesday mid-morning I was talking with someone about the rumor that Green Day and U2 were covering an old song by the Skids together, for something connected with New Orleans. Could it be "The Saints Are Coming," I wondered. It's got it all: eschatology, "how long," a father, floods, "a weather change condemns belief," etc. Imagine my surprise when, Friday mid-morning, that turns out to be the song. You can read the announcement on Green Day's site (for the time being, I suppose.)

Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour this week

I don't have satellite radio, but I'm guessing our readers who do would enjoy hearing Bob Dylan's current "Theme Time Radio Hour," whose theme is the Bible and which had this playlist. The show, for any who may not know, purports to highlight items from Dylan's personal record collection. It aired yesterday and there are two or three rebroadcasts over the weekend.

theotherblog: Musical odyssey: The eschatology of U2

Drew from theotherblog has recently begun a multipost series on the eschatology of U2. Treated so far: Boy and October.

"Had some of the things that have come out of you ever been a surprise to you?"

Maybe U2 fans will get a break, now that people have a nice cultural excuse to stop misquoting Bono on spiritual issues and misquote Bob Dylan for awhile instead. (Excuse for U2 content: Bono interviews Dylan, 1984.)