Spiritual Journeys: How Faith Has Influenced 12 Music Icons
Spiritual Journeys: How Faith Has Influenced 12 Music Icons
What’s the deal with Lauryn Hill and God? What’s with the outlaw preacher persona of Johnny Cash? What about Moby’s shout-outs to Jesus? Nowhere else do faith and art intermingle so fluidly than in the ever-changing stream of popular music. For today’s music-lovers, the influence of traditional religion is waning. The institutional church is fighting to remain RELEVANT. But personal spirituality and faith, particularly the kind espoused by our cultural icons are as respected and interesting as ever. In the cultural conscience, pop stars replaced preachers. SPIRITUAL JOURNEYS looks deeper into the issue by exploring the spiritual lives of a dozen of the most intriguing members of our entertainment culture. From Bono to Beyonce,
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There and Back Again…,
A few months back, my landlady forced me to sit through an hour of CMT music videos so I could see this one funny video. An hour later, I hadn’t seen the video she was looking for, but I was captivated by a video by Johnny Cash, “Hurt” – even more so when I saw it was written by NIN’s Trent Reznor. A country legend covering an alternative ballad – quite a dichotomy.
Dichotomy seems to be the central theme of the latest Spiritual Journeys’ tome from Relevant Books. Every artist profiled it seems has a problem reconciling their faith with their lives – much like what normal people go through. The authors cut through the fame and fortune shield and go right to the heart of the matter – the artist’s struggle with faith and with a church that you would think should support them.
The book avoids the standard Christian rhetoric – in fact, it flat out defies it with it’s honest look at real people and their rise to fame and the labors they engaged in to get there – both good and bad, avoiding the plastic-looking halos on the heads of the artists commonly associated with what has become known as contemporary ‘Christian music.’
I should say here that I am not a big fan of the rap and hip-hop universes, but I still found the stories compelling enough to read, and, to be honest, was surprised by a number of the artists profiled. Having no experience with them other than hearing older people complain about their music, I had no idea some of them explored their faith the way they did.
I must mention a couple of caveats, though. The book focuses a little too strongly on dichotomies. The artists profiled all “walk the line” between good and evil, often choosing the incorrect path. I wish they had also included a few artists who tend to be a little less notorious, but still straddle both universes. Some stories I’d like to have seen explored include Bruce Cockburn, Charlie Sexton, Pierce Pettis, Michael Been and the Call, Tonio K., Vigilantes of Love, Sam Phillips, Van Morrison, and, as a guilty pleasure, Jon Bon Jovi. It seemed odd that the king of offensively embracing faith, “The Artist,” was absent from the pages as well. Also, unfortunately for such a well-put together book there are quite a few typos, including passages where a member of a band or a music reviewer’s name changes from one paragraph to another. Needless to say, it jarred the senses and made the book a little harder to read. Hopefully they will clear those up in the next edition.
Overall, Spiritual Journeys is a walk worth taking, especially if you are fans of Johnny, Lauryn, Moby, Wyclef Jean, Creed, Dylan, Kravitz, T-Bone, P. Diddy, Al Green, and Destiny’s Child. (oh, yeah, and U2, although I’d recommend Walk On for a more in-depth look at the world’s most famous band.)
Peace.
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|Modern Day Preacher,
The lights flicker, the crowd is screaming young girls are fainting and the preacher steps up to the microphone! Clad in black leather with an attitude and blue tinted sunglasses holding his hands up in the air he sings
“I have climbed highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you”
Call it a product of our Post modern or Post-Post Modern culture or call it raw spirituality the fact is that church services are being held nightly in a 30,000 seat stadium with names like the “Cow Palace” or “The Garden”. With our world reaching an ever-increasing disdain for the “traditional” the youth of today seems to be gleaning more theology from the current Pop Icons than from the man that some of them call Pastor.
“Spiritual Journeys: How faith has influenced twelve music icons” explores the personal journeys of the people that are shaping our culture one lyric at a time. From Bono to Moby and from Cash to Kravitz the reader is treated to a unbiased unapologetic look at the spiritual backgrounds of the most influential poetic singers and songwriters of the past as well as today’s princes and princesses of pop. I’m sorry but until you become Dylan you still are just a Prince in my opinion.
I need to be honest with you I was scared to open the pages of this book because I thought that I was going to be forced to see the spiritual in things that were never meant to be spiritual. I thought I was going to have to read another article about how Creed is a “Christian Band”. I thought that this was going to be one of those books that was written for the sole purpose of allowing a teenager to justify to their parents that it was OK to listen to P. Diddy because he is a “Christian”. I am so happy to say that I was wrong. Instead it is an honest look at the good and the bad with a healthy dose of the ugly. It is an honest portrayal of the excesses of Rock and Roll while still making clear that redemption in Christ is available to all and furthermore that those who in one breath spew profanity can in the next breath praise Jesus.
This book is a beautiful glimpse into the human heart while giving a background that will help at least understand where some of the spiritual torment that we so often see in lyrics comes from. More than that though it is worship in the purest form. I almost wept when I read about the amazing “Paul-like” conversion of Al Green. I closed that chapter and just thanked God for being willing to grab us when we are running so hard from him. I thanked him that he caught me when I wanted nothing to do with him.
This book is a blessing in so many ways. Hopefully it will drive home the fact that God is a Sovereign God that can (and will) manifest himself in everything. Oh yeah and by the way Creed is not a “Christian Band” just thought I’d let you know.
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|Spiritual Slap in the Face,
Cracking this book I expected twelve short testimonies. I didn’t imagine these spiritual biographies to be a slap in the face for me. The irony that these are God-fearing artists, yet Johnny Cash struggles with drug addiction, P-Diddy is crying in the courts, and Lauryn Hill and her son live with her boyfriend, reminded me of how judgmental and self-righteous I can be and how open minded and forgiving I, as a Christian, must be. Moby guided me back to the mindset that I can’t judge others when I am so imperfect myself. Bono reminded me that Jesus calls us to serve others and love them as you love yourself, if not more. It was good for me to read about people that recognize their faults, but can say, “This is me God. I’m messed up, but I’m trying to live for You.” Some of the most basic and important messages of the New Testament, and I’m reminded by rock stars? This was unexpected. I was also inspired as an artist. Digging into the worship within the lyrics of these icons stirred me to get God’s word out in my own ways. At times I felt the book was repetitive, reading the spiritual struggles of a musical idol over and over again. I was annoyed by the writing at times, and there were distracting typographical errors (I’m no expert, but I expect more from a published book). However, the inspiration and messages I received were worth the erroneous writing/editing.
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