| Book Review - Spiritual Journeys:
How Faith Has Influenced Twelve Music Icons |
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By Steve Beard, Chad Bonham,
Jason Boyett, Scott Marshall and Denise Washington
Publisher: RELEVANT Books
Review by Tom Gilbert
Scantily clad beautiful pop divas with a message of faith. Rough and
rugged troubadours that tout redemption and grace while battling
demons of addiction. Young rock singers questioning the cosmos
and professing powerlessness to save themselves. Vegetarian
techno mixers following Jesus. Hip hop, guitar rock, country,
folk, gospel, rap, R&B and electronica. These are the
sounds of music and the voices of twelve music icons who trudge
a spiritual path.
Who can honestly judge someone’s faith? Only God
can really see the heart, right? Spiritual Journeys is
a book that’s full of paradoxical expression. Popular
music can often be vapid, but here we discover artists that
are touting a belief in God and a faith that guides them.
Like all of us, they can stumble (and do) and make some
poor choices that are quickly evident under the harsh glare
of the media spotlight.
About half the time I was reading this book I was thinking some of the artists profiled are either
putting us on or kidding themselves. Guns, fast cars, drugs, debauchery and
egotism on parade – the professed faith rings hollow
when measured against the backdrop of their behavior.
Then the other half of the time I find myself musing about
some of the more colorful characters in the Bible. Prostitutes,
tax collectors, outsiders, power hungry kings and reluctant
prophets. Hey, maybe this book is on to something.
The influence of music on the public is well established. Charismatic singer Bono of U2 can
address the tragedy of the AIDS crisis in Africa and the world’s leaders
and public take note. When P. Diddy publicly repents of sin it makes entertainment news.
This book covers a wide spectrum of music “icons” and
examines their views and faith. The result is varied. All
of these artists appear to be influenced by a belief in
God and impacted by the confrontation of the self view and
the spiritual way. What you take from it probably depends
on where on the path you are. If you are open to God working
anywhere and have a wide appreciation of music styles you’ll
probably like most or the entire book. On the other hand,
if your genre favorites are more narrow than broad you won’t
resonate with some of the stories.
It’s debatable how many of those profiled can truthfully
be labeled an icon. I’ll grant it to the late Johnny
Cash and Bob Dylan; probably even Al Green and Bono. The
jury is out in my mind on Sean Puffy Combs, Scott Stapp
(Creed) and Destiny’s Child. Others covered in the
book are Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean (Fugees’ alumni),
Moby, T-Bone Burnett and Lenny Kravitz.
This is a worthy idea for a book and for the most part
the multiple authors pull it off. Too often music journalism
comes up short. Here they reach high and end up above ground.
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PSALM 92:1-3
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"It is good to praise
the LORD
and make music to your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
and the
melody of the harp."
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(NIV)
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