Table of Contents

List of Figures Contributors Acknowledgments Foreword Introduction: U2’s Sacrament of Sound (Scott Calhoun, Cedarville University, USA) Part One: “Meet Me In The Sound” 1. "Edge, Ring Those Bells": The Guitar and Its Spiritual Soundscapes in Early U2 (Henrik Marstal, Danish Institute of Popular Music/Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Denmark) 2. “Looking to Fill That God-Shaped Hole”: The Evolution of U2’s Spiritually Evocative Musical Gestures (Christopher Endrinal, Florida Gulf Coast University Bower School of Music and the Arts, USA) 3. Divine Moves: Pneumatology as Passionate Participation in U2’s “Mysterious Ways” (Steve Taylor, Flinders University, Australia) Part Two: “Lift Me Out of These Blues” 4. “Hold On To Love”: U2’s Bespoke Exorcism of the 1960s (Nicola Allen, The University of Wolverhampton, UK and Gerald Carlin, The University of Wolverhampton, UK) 5. Sarajevo and the PopMart Lemon: The Fractured Form and Function of U2’s Walk Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death (Richard S. Briggs, University of Durham, UK) 6. “You Carried the Cross of My Shame”: From Crippling Stigma to Infectious Joy in the Songs of U2 (Mark Meynell, Langham Partnership, UK) Part Three: “Escape Yourself, And Gravity” 7. The Technological Reach for the Sublime on U2’s 360° Tour (Kimi Kärki, University of Turku, Finland) 8. The “Moment of Surrender”: Medieval Mysticism in the Music of U2 (Brenda Gardenour Walter, Saint Louis College of Pharmacy, USA) 9. “In God’s Country”: Spatial Sacredness in U2 (Michael R. MacLeod, St. Mary’s University, Canada and Timothy Harvie, St. Mary’s University, Canada) Part Four: “You Give Me Something I Can Feel” 10. “You Don’t See Me But You Will": Jewish Thought and U2 (Naomi Dinnen, Independent Scholar, Australia) 11. “Like Faith Needs a Doubt”: U2 and the Theist / Non-Theist Dialogue (Angela Pancella, Independent Scholar, USA) 12. Finding What They’re Looking For: Evangelical Teen Fans and Their Desire for U2 to be a Christian Band (Neil R. Coulter, Center for Excellence in World Arts, USA) 13. U2 and the Art of Being Human (Mark Peters, Trinity Christian College, USA) References Index

Promotional Information

Edited by a leading scholar on U2, this book is the first to focus on the religious and spiritual dimensions of the band U2.

About the Author

Scott Calhoun is Professor of English at Cedarville University, USA. He created and directs the U2 Conference and Studies Network. He is a curator for U2: Made in Dublin at The Little Museum of Dublin, and has edited two volumes of scholarly writing about U2. He’s been a staff writer since 2004 for @U2, for which he has written numerous articles and interviews about U2.

Reviews

U2 and the Religious Impulse provides a wide ranging, deep and thoughtful investigation of the relationships between popular music, religion and spirituality. Exploring areas such as music, lyrics, staging and cultures, the writers examine how fans navigate flows of meaning created by and beyond the band, offering considerable insight into the functions of the sacred within popular culture.
*Rupert Till, Professor of Music, University of Huddersfield, UK*

This truly excellent collection of lively, provocative essays shows that digging into and reflecting on U2’s work is well worth the effort. Without constraining the band’s output and impact by interpreting their music in any simple, narrowly religious way, these multi-disciplinary investigations reveal U2’s importance for spirituality, theology, politics and ethics. The book provides compelling evidence of the profound significance of popular culture.
*Clive Marsh, Head of the Vaughan Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Leicester, UK*

The relationship of U2 and several western religions has been a topic of debate/discussion since the band’s debut album Boy, in 1980. Subsequent releases found the group consistently addressing spiritual and religious themes in an attempt to reconcile faith and ever increasing popular music stardom. Here Calhoun takes on the varied and diverse religious elements in the music of the long-lived, world-renown band. As the band, itself, culls religious influence from a host of sources, so U2 and the Religious Impulse expertly addresses these myriad sacred cues in a measured and thought-provoking volume.
*David Moskowitz, Professor of Music History, University of South Dakota, USA*