We’ve been discussing in our Ancient and Emerging Worship Studies class the influence of artists on culture, and on the faith community growing up in postmodernism. As John Lennon became a spokesperson for a generation (rocky as his worldview was – enter the artist’s nature), Bono has become probably the premier artistic voice representing a generation.
Dr. Peter Fitch here at SSU suggests the possibility (or probability) that the rediscovery of Greek statues, and the reclaiming of the celebration of the three-dimensional human form in art (after the two-dimensionalism of the medieval era) may have been the single most precipitating factor of the Reformation. A celebration of humanity, but with a God-oriented focus, turns us from humanism toward a God-centric anthropology. Human beings are beautiful, and to be treated with care and dignity, because God is beautiful and reflects His image in us. Through all the rocky story of U2 and Bono’s faith, this story is punching through, and challenging the sub-culture of the Church to see a new way of being in this generation.
Here’s the YouTube version of Bono’s speech delivered to the National Prayer Breakfast and president Bush, along with leaders of many faiths: