Product Description

U2 is widely hailed as the greatest rock and roll band in the world, and lead singer Bono is often seen in the media touting humanitarian goals. Now Christian Scharen provides a thoughtful look at the driving force behind the band. Bono and other band members are marked by the Christian faith of their Irish backgrounds. Scharen reflects on how U2 "fits within the longer Christian tradition of voices that point us to the cross, to Jesus, and to the power of God's ways in the world" as he explores the music's honest spiritual questioning. Music lovers, pastors, and anyone on the path to God will value this book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #302937 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

About the Author
Christian Scharen (Ph.D., Emory University) is associate director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and teaches practical theology and congregational studies at Yale Divinity School. He has authored a number of books, including Public Worship and Public Work. An ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, he has served congregations in California, Georgia, and Connecticut. Scharen lives in New Haven, Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Insights abound - for both U2's music and the gospel
I couldn't put this book down. Am a self-confessed U2 nut (which of course renders all comments entirely and gloriously partial), but also someone who is passionate about theology and truth. This book provides plenty of insights into both. Particularly helpful was Scharen's analysis of U2's theological worldview in terms of Luther's Theology of the Cross. This seemed to me pretty convincing - especially because it chimes so closely with Bono's frequent rejection of the hypocrisies of Christian 'religion' and the latter's assumption that we can have unwavering certainties about everything (without embracing or engaging with the pain, doubts and questions that we find in OT wisdom literature like the Psalms and Ecclesiastes).

Full of research - Scharen is thorough in background study, including hundreds of sometimes obscure interviews with Bono and other members of the band - this is a really good book to stretch the mind and warm the heart. I'd even suggest that it is the sort of book that one could confidently lend to a thoughtful non-believing U2 fan.