{"id":23983,"date":"2016-05-03T06:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T10:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=23983"},"modified":"2016-05-02T23:35:26","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T03:35:26","slug":"bono-and-eugene-peterson-on-the-psalms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/05\/bono-and-eugene-peterson-on-the-psalms\/","title":{"rendered":"Bono and Eugene Peterson on the Psalms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

As you may have picked up, I have been reading the Psalms lately, to my great benefit. \u00a0Fuller Seminary has made a video of U2 frontman Bono and respected Christian author and Bible translator Eugene Peterson talking about the Psalms. \u00a0It\u2019s quite illuminating, with Bono making some applications to Christian art in general. \u00a0After the jump, read from an account of the interview and then watch the interview itself.<\/p>\n

From Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra,\u00a0Beyond Bono and Eugene Peterson: The Most Searched and Shared Psalms | Gleanings | ChristianityToday.com<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe psalms \u2026 showed me that imagination was a way to get inside the truth,\u201d Peterson told Bono on the Fuller video.<\/p>\n

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Their friendship began with Bono\u2019s admiration for Peterson\u2019s Bible translation, which the singer read<\/a> to his dying father and quoted<\/a> before \u201cWhere the Streets Have No Name\u201d during U2\u2019s 2001 Elevation tour.<\/p>\n

The rawness of the Psalms is missing in a lot of Christian music, Bono said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe psalmist is brutally honest about the explosive joy that he\u2019s feeling, and the deep sorrow or confusion, and it\u2019s that that sets the Psalms apart for me,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I often think, \u2018Gosh, why isn\u2019t church music more like that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Christian art could use more of the naked abandonment of David, who gave himself over to emotions, Bono said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love if this conversation would inspire people who are writing these beautiful gospel songs to write a song about their bad marriage, write a song about how they\u2019re pissed off at the government. Because that\u2019s what God wants from you\u2014that truth,\u201d Bono said. \u201cThat truthfulness \u2026 will blow things apart. Why I\u2019m suspicious about Christians is because of this lack of realism, and I\u2019d love to see more of that in art, and in life, and in music.\u201d<\/p>\n

The imprecatory psalms lay out examples of how Christians can be angry and hurt by the violence of this world\u2014in order words, how they can \u201ccuss without cussing,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to have some way in context to tell people how mad we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bono said U2\u2019s \u201cRaised by Wolves,\u201d about a triple bombing in Dublin in 1974, tries to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see God as a violent God, but I think the world is a violent place,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a terrifying thing\u2014some of the Old Testament. But it is real. And in a way I kind of prefer it to the airy fairy stuff where we don\u2019t get real.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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