Catching up with some linking I skipped the past week. Jeff Keuss usually offers interesting and provocative theological takes on U2, and this trip through NLOTH is no exception. It begins by asking whether U2's entire body of work is more like a tragedy or a comedy in dramatic terms, then continues with thoughts on faith versus certainty, the call of beauty, and the nature of "a love you can't defeat." Long but worth it. Excerpt:
As Bono goes on in "Stand Up Comedy", we "can stand up for hope, faith and love" as the grand Christian virtues, but perhaps there is more to it than this. As Bono continues that verse, he decries choosing knowledge and will power over faith when he sings "while I´m getting over certainty/ Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady." This double challenge - (1) dropping the search for certainty in favor of faith, and (2) allowing God to... well... *be* God becomes the liberating truths for the protagonist.
Another acknowledgment of the 'comedy' that we are called to is found in the focus on beauty. There is the acknowledgement in "Get on your boots" that humanity needs to realize our beauty... In true beauty, we are lead to the truth of things and in many respects, we are led to the Divine. As ones made 'beautiful' ("you don't know how beautiful you are") we are also called back to true/truth nature as made in the Imago Dei - the 'dictator of the heart.'
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