Books God in the arena
WALK ON: THE
SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF U2 By Steve Stockman Relevant Books, 197
pages, $13.99 |
REVIEWED By TERESA
MALCOLM
The familiar opening notes seemed to rain down from above as the
singer lifted his face to the bright white spotlight and asked, What can
I give back to God for all the blessings he has poured out on me? -- then
the band burst into their 1987 song, Where the Streets Have No
Name.
When I saw Irish rock band U2 in November, that was just one of
many moments that felt transcendent. And at some point in the evening it struck
me with force: God is present, right here in this arena.
It turns out I wasnt the only one thinking that. Speaking of
U2s 2001 Elevation tour, lead singer Bono told Rolling
Stone magazine: It feels like theres a blessing on the band
right now. People are saying theyre feeling shivers -- well, the band is
as well. And I dont know what it is, but it feels like God walking
through the room, and it feels like a blessing, and in the end, music is a kind
of sacrament.
Steve Stockman would agree with that statement, and in his book
Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2, he takes the reader through more
than 20 years of God walking through the room as U2 music plays.
Stockman, a Presbyterian minister in Belfast, Northern Ireland, did not
interview the band members himself, but instead relies mostly on mining the
songs for insights into faith. He necessarily devotes the bulk of the attention
to Bono (born Paul Hewson), the bands chief lyricist, who has long used
biblical imagery and language in his songwriting.
U2s 1981 album October would be the last to
treat religious faith in an insular, private way. From then on, spiritual
matters -- while never losing a deeply personal approach -- would be
inextricably tied with social activism.
Stockman quotes Bono in a 1988 interview: To me, faith in
Jesus Christ that is not aligned to social justice, that is not aligned with
the poor, its nothing. The author chastises his fellow evangelicals
who, he says, took U2s concern for the poor and politically oppressed as
a sign that the band had moved away from the heart of the gospel.
It troubled some Christians, Stockman writes, when U2 sang I
Still Havent Found What Im Looking For: If that were true,
they cannot possibly still be believers in Christ, can they?
As Stockman sees it, though, what the band members are still
looking for is the realization of Gods kingdom on earth. As Bono said,
I dont expect this pie in the sky when you die stuff. My favorite
line in the Lords Prayer is Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven. I want it all, and I want it now. Heaven on
earth -- now -- lets have a bit of that.
Later, that thought found its way into song. The very first lines
of the 2000 song Peace on Earth, a cry of rage and mourning at a
1998 bombing in Omagh, Northern Ireland, are: Heaven on earth/We need it
now
Stockman sheds new light on U2s work, drawing out themes of
faith that I hadnt realized were there. In particular, I can credit the
author for inspiring me to give U2s 1997 album Pop a second
chance. I have always found it rather cold and joyless. But that may be the
point, according to Stockmans interpretation. He writes that
Pop is the book of Ecclesiastes being made into song to live
among us.
Pop takes on the emptiness behind the flash of a life
of consumerism -- in Ecclesiastes famous verse, Vanity of vanities!
All things are vanity! -- and yearns for meaning found with God. In
U2s words: Looking for the baby Jesus under the trash.
Walk On has its flaws. When Stockman touts the brilliance
of even a vanity project like Bonos film script Million Dollar
Hotel, he comes off as a bit fatuous in his uncritical admiration for
U2.
More important, there is a gaping hole where an in-depth treatment
of U2s finest album, 1991s Achtung Baby should be.
Stockman only touches on a few of its songs, and all but ignores
One -- a song that for me represents the peak of U2s career,
with its profound spiritual richness.
Back in the November concert, U2 blended One into a
medley with two newer songs, Peace on Earth and Walk On
-- this books namesake -- into a heart-wrenching tribute to the victims
of Sept. 11. A band that has long lived with terrorism in its own land gave the
songs like a prayer for Americans fresh with grief. One was the
heart of it, a meditation on how God sees humanity: One life/But
were not the same/We get to carry each other/Carry each
other/One.
Teresa Malcolm is NCR news editor. Her e-mail address is
tmalcolm@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, February 15,
2002
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