![]() ![]() The inspiration of the song was a trip U2's lead singer Bono took to El Salvador in 1986 at the invitation of the Sanctuary movement. I revisited these ideas during the past academic semester when one of my students wrote a paper on the relation between personal sin and historic sin in Sobrino's thought.Īll this came back to mind when I listened to the song "Bullet the Blue Sky" on The Joshua Tree during the past week. I discovered that Ellacuría had been writing about the historical incarnation of Christ in the "crucified peoples" of the world since 1978, in particular the Salvadoran people oppressed by successive military regimes, in whom the body of Christ was being crucified afresh. Ellacuría himself joined this crucified people as one of the six Jesuit Martyrs of the University of Central America on November 16, 1989. Soon I read the chapter "The Crucified Peoples: Yahweh's Suffering Servant Today," which drew heavily on the thought of his fellow Salvadoran theologian Ignacio Ellacuría (1930-1989), to whom that chapter was dedicated in memoriam. While preparing to preach on the Lukan account of Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan during the last lectionary year, I read Salvadoran theologian Jon Sobrino's essay on "The Samaritan Church and the Principle of Mercy." After the sermon I continued reading Sobrino's book in which it served as the lead chapter, The Principle of Mercy: Taking the Crucified People from the Cross (Orbis Books, 1994). The news had me listening to the album again this week, and this time I heard something I'd not noticed before. This week I experienced another of those theology-and-U2 intersections in connection with the band's announcement of The Joshua Tree Tour 2017, revisiting their classic fifth studio album 30 years later. Some of those intersections have fueled my writing, from one-off theological reflections on album releases ( most recently on Songs of Innocence) to a book offering a popular introduction to the ecumenical movement and ecumenical theology, drawing on U2's music for illustrative material ( Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity). ![]() 5 poems, plus the cover, from #71 were featured in this previous post.Now and then my theological vocation and U2-fandom avocation intersect. This week's poem comes from Lilliput Review, #71, from August 1995. The offer stands, so if you have any suggestions for LitRock songs (songs with direct reference to something literary: an author, title, quote, genre etc.) send 'em along and I'll send you some poetry that rocks. Two folks took me up on it and they already have received their issues. Last week, I mentioned that anyone with suggestions for future " Issa's Sunday Service" posts that were accepted would receive the current two issues of Lilliput Review free. Today's selection is one of their best: "Bullet the Blue Sky."įor those who've never had the opportunity to see U2 live, here is an extraordinary performance of "Bullet the Blue Sky," from Paris, 1987. I've got some future numbers to share from the best band from the 80's. Not all fit the criteria for Issa's Sunday Service - a song must contain a direct allusion, either in the lyrics or title etc., to something literary - and so many are Biblical in nature, but no matter. ![]() Don't know if it is still an active site but the archive is up and its got quite an impressive list of allusions. So, I dug in and took a poke around and I was surprised again when I found a whole site devoted to just the topic: U2Literary. Imagine my surprise when I found I had nothing. ![]() I noticed earlier this week that Saturday was Adam Clayton's birthday, Adam of U2 fame that is, and I thought, well, I'll check the list of potential LitRock songs and grab one of it in his honor. ![]()
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