U2 - A Prophetic Imagination?
My introduction to U2 was at a student party somewhere in Loughbourough in about 1981. The song was I will follow, it's driving, exciting rhythm was infectious, hopeful and yet there was a youthful uncertainty - "Do you like it?" someone yelled, "Yes, I acknowledged, "They're Christian's and they're great" he shouted back and I listened closer to this proclamation of belief, discipleship and loss.
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if U2 are engaged in a prophetic ministry, their role as songwriters and performers leaves them ideally placed to
articulate the imagined alternative
dismantle the dominant culture through radical criticism and lament
energise the alternative community through the language of amazement and new doxologies
and thus penetrate the despair so that new futures can be believed and embraced.