{"id":4202,"date":"2007-10-12T10:04:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-12T10:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry\/"},"modified":"2007-10-12T10:04:00","modified_gmt":"2007-10-12T10:04:00","slug":"rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html","title":{"rendered":"Rush and Religion (Peart’s Poetry)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Last night, as continued my ongoing struggle to solve the mystery of the black screen after login on Windows Vista, I put on R30<\/a>\"\", the DVD of a concert the band Rush issued to celebrate their 30th birthday. I\u2019ve liked Rush\u2019s music since the first time I heard it, which was the album Grace Under Pressure<\/a>\"\", which relatives put on in the car when we visited them.<\/p>\n

It was the combination of good music with lyrics that were worth listening to over and over again that made the impression. Particularly for a science fiction fan, many tracks on Grace Under Pressure are appealing. The lyrics<\/a> of Rush songs are written mostly by the drummer, Neil Peart, and they regularly deserve to be classed as serious poetry. Striking inversions of common metaphors, such as the phrase \u201ctoo many hands on my time\u201d<\/a>, are just one example.<\/p>\n

When it comes to religion, there is much in their songs that is worth exploring and reflecting on. If I had to, I would guess that Peart had some encounter with Christianity when he was young that turned him off to it. In \u201cThe Weapon<\/a>\u201c, a track on the 1982 album Signals<\/a>\"\", we find hints of this:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not afraid of your judgement
He knows of horrors worse than your Hell
He\u2019s a little bit afraid of dying
But he\u2019s a lot more afraid of your lying<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I find particularly interesting the contrast between the lyrics of \u201cFreewill\u201d<\/a>, which seem to rebel against the idea of determinism, and those of one of my all-time favorite Rush songs, \u201cRoll the Bones\u201d<\/a> (from the album of the same name<\/a>), which seem to have come to view randomness as something not entirely positive. The most powerful stanza is the second:<\/p>\n

Why are we here?
Because we\u2019re here<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/div>\n

Roll the bones<\/a>\"\"
Why does it happen?
Because it happens
Roll the bones<\/p>\n

Faith is cold as ice \u2014
Why are little ones born only to suffer
For the want of immunity
Or a bowl of rice?
Well, who would hold a price
On the heads of the innocent children
If there\u2019s some immortal power
To control the dice?<\/p>\n

We come into the world and take our chances
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That\u2019s the way that lady luck dances
Roll the bones <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although this could easily be dismissed by a religious believer as simply blasphemous rebellion against God, it is actually a profound line of thought that is deserving of serious theological consideration. Conservative religious believers claim the literal historical factuality of Biblical stories, in which God is constantly intervening to assist people \u2013 not merely parting seas and leading slaves to freedom, but making poisoned stew edible and sending a bear or a lion to kill someone that has offended or disobeyed him. Yet when we observe the world, we find, as Job did, that this simplistic way of viewing things does not fit our experience. Which, in the end is more blasphemous, to deny that there is a God of the sort that \u201cholds the dice\u201d, that determines what happens in human history, or to claim that there is<\/i> such a God but that he does not do for people today the sorts of things they claim he once did?<\/p>\n

Modern physics, and science in general, seem to be working towards striking a balance between randomness and determinism. It is at the interface between law and chance that freewill and free actions become possible.<\/p>\n

Let me conclude with some of the most entertaining Rush lyrics, in my opinion. They are from the song \u201cYou Bet Your Life\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

THE ODDS GET EVEN \u2014 You name the game
THE ODDS GET EVEN \u2014 The stakes are the same
YOU BET YOUR LIFE<\/p>\n

anarchist reactionary running-dog revisionist
hindu muslim catholic creation\/evolutionist
rational romantic mystic cynical idealist
minimal expressionist post-modern neo-symbolist<\/p>\n

armchair rocket scientist graffiti existentialist
deconstruction primitive performance photo-realist
be-bop or a one-drop or a hip-hop lite-pop-metallist
gold adult contemporary urban country capitalist<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even these have a point \u2013 no matter what your ideology, philosophy, religion, political allegiance, citizenship or creed, we all devote our lives to something. People stake their lives on there being a heaven, or there not being one. People stake their lives on the relative importance of combatting evolution versus feeding the poor and stake their lives and their money on it. All of our competing worldviews seek to provide a meaningful framework for our existence.<\/p>\n

When we are all staking our lives on our ultimate convictions and values, is it any surprise that we find it so hard to evaluate them critically and discuss them dispassionately, never mind actually changing<\/i> them?<\/p>\n

Thanks, Rush, for the chance to think about serious subjects and have it accompanied by great music!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night, as continued my ongoing struggle to solve the mystery of the black screen after login on Windows Vista, I put on R30, the DVD of a concert the band Rush issued to celebrate their 30th birthday. I\u2019ve liked Rush\u2019s music since the first time I heard it, which was the album Grace Under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRush and Religion (Peart's Poetry)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last night, as continued my ongoing struggle to solve the mystery of the black screen after login on Windows Vista, I put on R30, the DVD of a concert the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rush and Religion (Peart's Poetry)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last night, as continued my ongoing struggle to solve the mystery of the black screen after login on Windows Vista, I put on R30, the DVD of a concert the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-10-12T10:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000BOH90Y\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html\",\"name\":\"Rush and Religion (Peart's Poetry)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-10-12T10:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-10-12T10:04:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"Last night, as continued my ongoing struggle to solve the mystery of the black screen after login on Windows Vista, I put on R30, the DVD of a concert the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rush and Religion (Peart’s Poetry)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rush and Religion (Peart's Poetry)","description":"Last night, as continued my ongoing struggle to solve the mystery of the black screen after login on Windows Vista, I put on R30, the DVD of a concert the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rush and Religion (Peart's Poetry)","og_description":"Last night, as continued my ongoing struggle to solve the mystery of the black screen after login on Windows Vista, I put on R30, the DVD of a concert the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2007-10-12T10:04:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000BOH90Y"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html","name":"Rush and Religion (Peart's Poetry)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-10-12T10:04:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-10-12T10:04:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"Last night, as continued my ongoing struggle to solve the mystery of the black screen after login on Windows Vista, I put on R30, the DVD of a concert the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/10\/rush-and-religion-pearts-poetry.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rush and Religion (Peart’s Poetry)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}