| Book Review - Spiritual Journeys:
How Faith Has Influenced Twelve Music Icons |
|
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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