The students in my Theology, Culture and U2 course have the following assignment:
Choose one of the following and write an essay.
1) Discuss five to ten U2 songs and why they are spiritually significant to you personally. Describe how each song has affected you on a theological, spiritual and personal level.
2) Do a narrative interview of two or three individuals who have been following the work of U2 for at least twenty years each. Let them tell stories of how U2 has impacted them spiritually. Discuss their favorite songs and how the songs have been spiritually significant.
Many of the students in this course are fairly unfamiliar with the U2 catalog, so I'm throwing the invitation out to all. Would you consider leaving a comment below about the U2 songs that have impacted you spiritually? This would be a great way to hear some voices from outside of the class and would also function as a primer for the students in my class.
A few years back I decided that I shouldn't ask the students to do anything I'm not willing to do, so I wrote the same paper they are required to write. My discussion of spiritually significant songs includes "40," "Bad," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "Van Diemen's Land," "Until the End of the World," "Walk On," and others. If you would like to see why these songs are personally relevant on a spiritual level, you can download my paper here. If I were to update that paper I would have to add "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," "Love and Peace Or Else," "All Because of You," "Yahweh," "Magnificent," "Moment of Surrender," "Unknown Caller," "Breathe," and possibly many others. Oh, I think I just added enough songs to the queue for a whole new paper. Stay tuned.
Here are three fine essays from former students in the class: Jessica Mast, Lawrence Smith, Jordan Wiebe.
Help us out and tell us what your favorite U2 songs are and why they have been spiritually significant. Thanks!