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Religious Nuts, Political Fanatics: U2 in Theological Perspective

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Vagacs does many unique and intriguing things in this little volume. He examines the collective works of U2 through the theological lenses of Walter Brueggemann to interpret their albums and specific songs. The categories he borrows from Brueggemann are the themes of hope amidst despair, social justice and eschatological anticipation, exile in a scorched land, and finally grace and resurrection.

Vagacs was drawn to undertake this endeavor after attending a U2 concert, which raised a number of questions in his mind. He states: "They prompt me to ask what is it exactly about U2's music that captivates people from such a diverse demographic, not to mention geographic, diversity? Is it their consistency, or their cohesiveness as a band? Is it their commitment to the music and each other? Is it U2's concern and involvement with social justice issues? Perhaps it is simply the fact that they generate great music?" (p.ix)

Vagacs believes that there are 4 categories of readers for this book:

1. You are neither a U2 fan nor a Christ follower.

2. You are a U2 fan with no real connection to Jesus Christ.

3. You are a Christian with no real connection to U2.

4. You are both a U2 fan and a Christ follower.

No matter which category you are in, this book can be informative, both on the history of U2 and the progression of thought through their music, and the spiritual imagery and implications of their work album by album. No matter which of the four you are, this book will open your eyes.

Brian Walsh in the introduction states: "Rob Vagacs does not come to worship at the shrine of U2. That would be a blasphemy to his own faith and a terrible disservice to the band. Rather, this book opens our eyes to light that is shining in the midst of the darkness of a postmodern world." (p.xvi) I believe it sums up the book well. This book will not herald U2 as the light, but as light bearers in a darkening world. This book will help you see light around you, whether in other people, music, or even theology.

Vagacs covers U2 from their early days of "Boy" to their most recent release, "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb", and dismantles the meaning behind U2's lyrics in a way I have NEVER read about before. He does it so brilliantly... read on below.

Vagacs easily intertwines the meaning of finding one's self in this world from the idea of orientation, disorientation, and finally reorientation. From U2's first release, "Boy", in 1979, they sing about faith, God, growing up, and spirituality. After this came "October" which has the most easily recognizable songs of praises to God, and one would almost think U2 was on a Christian record label. Later came "War" with the famous "Sunday Bloody Sunday" in which Bono sings, "To claim the victory, Jesus won." With these early releases, U2 knows their orientation in this world belongs with their faith in God. However later then comes "The Joshua Tree" in the mid-eighties in which they start to question things around them and further seek to orientate one's selves into society and where God and everyday social, political, and everyday life meets. It's a journey where "The Streets Have No Name", and where "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".

Thus soon came that moment when some criticizing "religious nuts" misunderstood U2's creative side for thinking they lost their faith. It was a time during three very different U2 releases within a short period of time between 1991 to 1997. We had it all from the great ground-breaking "Achtung Baby" to "Zooropa", and lastly to "Pop". This was the representation of what we call disorientation in life. The sex, the drugs, and the rock and roll... yet somehow if you REALLY listen to the music and get past all the hype of Bono dressing as the devil, Mr. Macphisto, and etc... during Zoo TV, Pop Mart--- the lyrics are VERY honest in seeking God amongst all the evils and temptations of our world. Also hasn't anyone ever stopped and realized that Mr. Macphisto is Mephistopheles from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's book entitled "Faust" about a man who sells his soul to the devil for all the riches in the world. Furthermore, Bono at that time of U2's career had read "The Screwtape Letters" by the Christian writer C.S. Lewis. I also suggest reading in the bible, James 4:7, "Resist (mock) the devil and he shall flee from you." Bono was mocking the devil, not trying to be the devil. "Pop" ended with a great song "Wake Up Dead Man" in which Bono longs for Jesus to wake up in this world and do something... it's a Psalm of lamentation in a well-written form. On "Achtung Baby"-- we get to wonder if Judas will ever be redeemed by Jesus and receive eternal life-- really listen to the words of "Until The End of The World". The best line of the song is "With waves of regret and waves of joy, I reached out for the one I tried to destroy..."-- was Judas in waves of regret praying Jesus would forgive him for kissing his cheek and giving him to the cross for his crucifixion; and yet in waves of joy I think Judas knew Jesus would forgive him. After all, Christ died for all our sins, and I like to think Judas is forgiven.

Lastly, we come back to finding ourselves in our world of chaos and indulgences. U2 released in 2000, "All That You Can't Leave Behind" in which we find ourselves getting reoriented with ourselves, and stopping to realize that all worldly things are the things that we can leave behind. You can't take your riches and your selfish needs into heaven when we die. And their latest release, "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" begins with a song "Vertigo" in which Bono imagined in his head as he wrote the song a virtual night life of dancing the night away, and not finding anything substantial until he sees "the girl with crimson nails has Jesus round her neck, swinging to the music...", and it is here that he realizes His love is what is teaching him "how to kneel". Atomic Bomb ends with a great little not well-known number called "Yahweh" in which is sung "take this heart and make it break" as the very last line of the song. In the bible it is written that only when we let our hearts break and be opened anew can we find God again. God seeks out the meek, and it is the meek who shall inherit His riches and His glory and His grace. Only in this reorientation can we renew faith in God.

In this book, Vagacs takes you on the journey of life, and you take on this journey with you "all that you can't leave behind" which is faith, love, grace, forgiveness, and God. I highly recommend this book to any one who is a U2 fan, or is seeking a little meaning into God and faith.

Love and Peace or Else,

The BoNo FReaK (-;

My first introduction to the 'theology' of U2 and its applicability to modern worship contexts came from the book 'Get Up Off Your Knees : Preaching the U2 Catalog' by Raewynne J. Whiteley. This book is addresses some of the same material, and is a good companion to Whiteley's book.

Vagacs makes the apt point that music of U2's sort is the poetry of the modern age. Adults young and old don't tend to learn poetry, but they do remember song lyrics, and many of these song lyrics contain deep, meaningful, spiritual content. Vagacs taps into the categories of biblical interpretation and meaning-making of Walter Brueggemann (one of my personal favourites), and looks to the medium of modern rock and roll ('potent poetry' that 'allows the artist to express raw emotion and high intellect simultaneously') to be a means toward an 'alternative universe of discourse'.

It isn't simply in the lyrics of U2 songs that the call to fulfilling a moral purpose, a gospel statement if you will, comes into being. Bono has taken upon himself the task of educating and drawing the media spotlights to issues of world poverty, hunger, and financial mismanagement that is a somewhat ironic stance for a 'pop star'. However, no one else seemed to be stepping up to the plate. Bono was honoured with the Bill and Melinda Gates by Time magazine, not for fame and fortune, but rather for turning fame and fortune into a force for good in a specific, savvy and increasingly effective way.

There are elements in U2 songs that all Christians can find familiar - hope and despair, faith and doubt, longing and desire, dealing with injustice and finally finding grace. All of these things, from lamentations to psalms and proverbs, have parallels in both biblical and U2 lyrical words. Vagacs deals with the idea of the postmodern (an idea he admits is difficult to define, particularly in so short a work), and demonstrates in many ways that U2 is a postmodern embodiment of many biblical themes.

Vagacs includes a litany inspired by U2 lyrics, merged with themes and words from the gospel of Mark. Vagacs also includes a discography, source lists, and a recommended readings list. These are handy things for those who might want to further their study, or incorporate U2 into actual worship services.

Vagacs includes a glossary of terms at the start, rather than at the end. This is both for U2 fans who are not theologically/philosophically trained, as well as for those theological types who don't have a wide exposure to modern popular/rock music. Vagacs states, 'My hope is that this book will be of interest to U2 fans, offering them perhaps another perspective on U2's lyrics. I would also hope that those who are Christian, or religious, would recognize that the marriage of theology, faith and popular culture is not only possible, but relevant and fruitful as well.'

I have the same feelings about this book that I have for the movie "Million Dollar Hotel" that Bono wrote and Wim Wenders directed. Great idea. Great setup. Not so hot with the execution.

Robert Vagacs is a theological student at the University of Toronto, and a huge U2 fan. This is true of his mentor, Brian Walsh as well. In the foreword, Walsh narrates his own experience of encountering God at a U2 concert. Walsh almost didn't go to the show, as the daughter of close friends lay in a hospital bed on the brink of death. But at the suggestion of one of his students, Walsh and friends decided to go to the concert anyway, feeling a little guilty at the prospect of enjoying such a spectacle of entertainment while their friends suffered just down the road at the hospital. What Walsh found at the concert, however, was not mere entertainment, but a worship experience. As U2 sang about life and love and death and pain, Walsh was intermittently transported to a place of lament and then prayer and ultimately to a place of joy and hope. This was no mere concert. It was a worship experience.

Unfortunately, Vagacs' writing cannot match that of Walsh, and thus the book goes down hill from there. Vagacs does an admirable job, however, of applying Walter Brueggeman's hermenuetical framework to the U2 catalog. Brueggeman (in Psalms and the Life of Faith) argues that one can see the Psalms through the lens of "orientation - disorientation - reorientation." "Psalms of orientation would include wisdom psalms where everything in creation is in order. God is sovereign, the righteous are blessed, and the wicked are dealt with according to their crimes (e.g., Psalms 104, 127, 128, 131, 133, 145)." Psalms of disorientation include psalms of lament (Psalms 88, 42, 44 among others). These psalms cry out in pain for the present circumstances and long for another time and place. And lastly there are psalms of reorientation. These picture not just a return to the "good old days," but picture a new, hopeful, and imaginative reality. What once was impossible is now possible: "Grace makes beauty out of ugly things."

This idea is not just a way to classify the psalms, but also a way to understand spiritual journey. For example, one can read the great Pilgrim's Progress through the lens of orientation - disorientation - reorientation. And, so argues Vagacs, you can understand U2's poetry through this lens as well.

Vagacs makes mention of U2's early work, but he really begins with The Joshua Tree. This is an album of orientation. This is protest poetry, giving the listener a clear picture of the world as U2 sees it -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. Songs like "Bullet the Blue Sky," "In God's Country," and "Mothers of the Disappeared" are both descriptive and offer critiques of Western culture (and particularly the United States). But there is also a longing for something more in the record, an eschatological quality. Bono sings about a longing for the kingdom of God to come in its fullness. This is something they have yet to see ("I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For") but expect to come ("Where the Streets Have No Name").

The 1990's were U2's period of disorientation. The trilogy of albums Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and Pop are much darker than U2's earlier work. The songs are filled with doom, gloom, irony and satire. Vagacs argues that in these albums U2 is describing the "Babylonian state of Zooropa." "Zooropa is the anti-matter of 'Where the Streets Have No Name'... [It] offers no fulfillment, no certainty, no hope, no compass, no map, no religion. Zooropa is hell on earth." "Love is Blindness" is a funeral procession, depicting the hopelessness of a loveless world. "The Wanderer" might serve as the archetypal song for all three albums. Bono sings of "a city without a soul, under an atomic sky, where the ground won't turn, and the rain it burns...Love is clockworks and cold steel." Vagacs explains, "This city robs its citizens of any semblance of community. Identity is comprised of slogans. This city is the opposite of 'Where the Streets Have No Name.' Instead of hope, there is consumerism. Instead of shalom, there is conformity. Instead of life, there is only numbness. Welcome to the new and improved Babylon...Welcome to the wasteland called Zooropa."

Zooropa leaves The Wanderer feeling less than human, as in "Numb" and "Lemon." And since there is little purpose or destination to his travels, self-indulgence seems to be the way to go in "Playboy Mansion" and "Mofo." But this ultimately leads to dissatisfaction and despair, questioning if God exists or, if He does, whether He cares in "Wake Up Dead Man."

Vagacs misses a great chance here to elaborate on this period of disorientation by analyzing the Zoo TV and Discoteque tours. He mentions them briefly, but a chapter talking about the gluttony of Zoo TV and the long hangover of Discoteque would have been appropriate. After all, the irony and humor of Bono singing "Desire" to himself in a mirror while wearing a gold suit, and dressing as MacPhisto and throwing copies of The Screwtape Letters into the crowd, and playing the part of Judas while singing "Until the End of the World" would really have bolstered Vagacs' argument.

Lastly, Vagacs places U2's next two albums, All That You Can't Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb in the category of reorientation. (The book came out before U2's most recent release, No Line on the Horizon). Vagacs cites Salmon Rushdie "recalling a meal in Bono's home in Killiney, south Dublin, when German film director Wim Wenders 'announced that artists must no longer use irony. Plain speaking, he argued, was necesary now. Communication should be direct, and anything that might create confusion should be eschewed.'" This is exactly what U2 did with their next two albums.

Bono himself has said that the theme of All That You Can't Leave Behind is "joy." And on the Elevation tour he shouts "It's all about soul!" What a contrast to move from "Wake Up Dead Man" to "Beautiful Day." The lyrics also intimate a move from "the wanderer" to "the sojourner." Now there is a destination. The cover art suggests this as the band stands at an airport in front of gate J33-3, a reference to Jeremiah 33:3 -- "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know." Bono has referred to this verse as "God's telephone number."

"Walk On" speaks of the journey to a better place and "In a Little While" seems to answer the timing questions to songs like "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "40". "Vertigo" consciously juxtaposes the trials of Christ in the wilderness with the disorientation of life in this time, but both records ultimately are hopeful in God's providence and the coming of His kingdom ("All Because of You" and "Yahweh" are most obvious in making this point).

It's hard for me to admit that I didn't really like this book. Especially because I agree with Vagacs' premise, and I LOVE U2. But the book didn't do much for me. I found the book wanting because, after the first chapter, Vagacs mainly strings together U2 lyrics that seem to support his point. I was hoping for more than that. More reflection, more biographical sketches and anecdotes about the band, more engagement with their performances as well as their lyrics.

In some ways, this book suffers from the same deficiency as Mark Pinsky's The Gospel According to the Simpsons. The premise is good, but it is workman-like from thereon out. A book about The Simpsons ought to be more than descriptive. It ought to be funny. And Pinsky's book wasn't. And a book about U2's poetry ought to be more than insightful. It ought to be beautiful. And this book wasn't.

I have read just about every book on U2. This is shorter than gems like 'One Step Closer' or 'Get Up Off Your Knees', but the best by far. The author starts with a little personal insight into his love for U2, and then uses his credible background to spin out well organized, well written chapters on various theological topics in U2. One chapter in particular, "The Babylonian State of Zooropa", was about the most philosophical insight into Bono's lyrics I'd ever read. Ever. It even inspired me to teach a lesson at my church based on "Zooropa" and "Pop" (which are the 2 most underrated albums ever, as the author even seems to recognize).

I applauded how much and how wonderfully this little book executed in its perfectly short length. It was small; a quick read with very much insight and thought provocation. Buy it NOW.

I read One Step Closer first and found it a great book. Easy to read with a lot of insightful commentary.

Then I read this book and just did not like it at all. It reads like a college term paper and is nothing but quotes from other authors. I just don't see how that qualifies as a "new book".