U-235
It's been in our midst for almost 3 days now (longer if you steal music off the internet), but the rave reviews are pouring in. The title of this post, in fact, is how USA Today described U2 now that Bomb is circulating. I don't need the reviewers to tell me this is truly a renewal for the band, I can hear it. I don't need their words to tell me how important this album of songs is, I can feel it. What's nice, though, is that because it is an amazing album, and the reviewers have come out in force to lionize it, Bomb will be heard and received by many more than otherwise. I mean, one of my favorite U2 albums is one of their least popular (ironically named Pop). I don't need popular appeal to validate my personal opinion, but this time they both seem to be running parallel.
I will not review the album; there's no need and I'm no authority on these things. However, as I've listened to it on constant repeat for the past couple of days, I've realized something I believe to be a truth: this is inspiration. I don't mean in some sappy, romantic notion. I mean in the truest theological sense. In the same way that the writers of Scripture throughout history were imbued with prophetic visions and stories to be told, this album (and most of U2's corpus) is inspired. God has breathed into them and they have opened themselves to write down what they've seen and heard. Don't give me any of that 2 Timothy 3:16 business. First of all, it should be clear that at the time of that writing, Paul could only have been referring to the Hebrew Scriptures as being "inspired." Second, in saying "all scripture" is inspired (God-breathed) he doesn't say "only scripture." This sort of interpretation is what's gotten us into this Biblio-idolatry mess to begin with. No, just as my evangelical friends "believe" those 66 books (and only those books) to be inspired, I can believe that so much that's been written since is also inspired. God continues to speak and create. Fortunately, some are not so concerned about "heresy" that they can open their hearts to his still, small voice, and open their hands to write it down.
Because it is inspired, it can be inspirational. If it were not God-breathed, we could find little of any worth or purpose beyond mere entertainment. However, once beyond the opening track, Bomb is rarely entertaining in the truest sense of the word. Never does the mind disengage from the powerful, prophetic, and soaring visions and messages on this disc. And that's a good thing. I'm sure the members of U2 want to be entertaining, but more importantly, it's clear from their published work that they wish to be engaging, annoying, frustrating, and revolutionary.
Unfortunately, like the Bible, many will engage it and miss the meaning that Bono seemed to have behind many of the tracks. Of course, assuming any kind of meaning is also interpretation on my part, and cannot be avoided. However, take the track "Yahweh" as an example. Next thing you know, this will be sung in some mega-seeker-sensitive-church out there. They will sing the line "Take these hands, don't make a fist..." and then walk out without even reconsidering their attitude toward the unjust violence perpetrated by their own country: both active (Iraq) and passive (Africa, India, the Philippines) violence. They will continue to be unchanged by the eternal message taught by the One they call Savior. The message so clearly illuminated throughout the entire body of U2's work.
I remain skeptical, but so much of the optimism on Bomb is infectious. This is a church I can worship with. The diaspora of U2 fans who've found something in common that goes against the flow of culture, not with it, as Christianity was meant to be. Something transcendent.
I will not review the album; there's no need and I'm no authority on these things. However, as I've listened to it on constant repeat for the past couple of days, I've realized something I believe to be a truth: this is inspiration. I don't mean in some sappy, romantic notion. I mean in the truest theological sense. In the same way that the writers of Scripture throughout history were imbued with prophetic visions and stories to be told, this album (and most of U2's corpus) is inspired. God has breathed into them and they have opened themselves to write down what they've seen and heard. Don't give me any of that 2 Timothy 3:16 business. First of all, it should be clear that at the time of that writing, Paul could only have been referring to the Hebrew Scriptures as being "inspired." Second, in saying "all scripture" is inspired (God-breathed) he doesn't say "only scripture." This sort of interpretation is what's gotten us into this Biblio-idolatry mess to begin with. No, just as my evangelical friends "believe" those 66 books (and only those books) to be inspired, I can believe that so much that's been written since is also inspired. God continues to speak and create. Fortunately, some are not so concerned about "heresy" that they can open their hearts to his still, small voice, and open their hands to write it down.
Because it is inspired, it can be inspirational. If it were not God-breathed, we could find little of any worth or purpose beyond mere entertainment. However, once beyond the opening track, Bomb is rarely entertaining in the truest sense of the word. Never does the mind disengage from the powerful, prophetic, and soaring visions and messages on this disc. And that's a good thing. I'm sure the members of U2 want to be entertaining, but more importantly, it's clear from their published work that they wish to be engaging, annoying, frustrating, and revolutionary.
Unfortunately, like the Bible, many will engage it and miss the meaning that Bono seemed to have behind many of the tracks. Of course, assuming any kind of meaning is also interpretation on my part, and cannot be avoided. However, take the track "Yahweh" as an example. Next thing you know, this will be sung in some mega-seeker-sensitive-church out there. They will sing the line "Take these hands, don't make a fist..." and then walk out without even reconsidering their attitude toward the unjust violence perpetrated by their own country: both active (Iraq) and passive (Africa, India, the Philippines) violence. They will continue to be unchanged by the eternal message taught by the One they call Savior. The message so clearly illuminated throughout the entire body of U2's work.
I remain skeptical, but so much of the optimism on Bomb is infectious. This is a church I can worship with. The diaspora of U2 fans who've found something in common that goes against the flow of culture, not with it, as Christianity was meant to be. Something transcendent.
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