A Man and A Woman
Little sister don’t you worry about a thing today
Take the heat from the sun
Little sister
I know that everything is not ok
But you’re like honey on my tongue
True love never can be rent
But only true love can keep beauty innocent
I could never take a chance
Of losing love to find romance
In the mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman
No I could never take a chance
‘Cos I could never understand
The mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman
You can run from love
And if it’s really love it will find you
Catch you by the heel
But you can’t be numb for love
The only pain is to feel nothing at all
How can I hurt when I’m holding you?
I could never take a chance
Of losing love to find romance
In the mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman
And you’re the one, there’s no-one else
You make me want to lose myself
In the mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman
Brown eyed girl across the street
On rue Saint Divine
I thought this is the one for me
But she was already mine
You were already mine…
Little sister
I’ve been sleeping in the street again
Like a stray dog
Little sister
I’ve been trying to feel complete again
But you’re gone and so is God
The soul needs beauty for a soul mate
When the soul wants… the soul waits …
No I could never take a chance
On losing love to find romance
In the mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman
For love and sex and faith and fear
And all the things that keep us here
In the mysterious distance
Between a man and a woman
How can I hurt when I’m holding you?
A commenter recently stated regarding U2 that “I can’t make fun of what doesn’t exist. U2 writes pop music, they don’t do theology.” He then quotes the first stanza of the song above and states “That’s not theology. To claim that it is theology is silly.” There are a couple of problems with this writer’s comment. First, although I do not agree that U2 writes pop music, even if they did, there is nothing that makes pop music and theology inherently mutually exclusive other than people’s internal biases. Second, there seems to be a second underlying presupposition at issue in this objection, which is that true theology cannot have an aesthetic quality to it. I suggest to anybody who believes this to go read your Bible. The Bible is filled with both aesthetic beauty and theology including books like Genesis, Psalms, and Song of Solomon. Some of the worst theology has been written has been written by individuals like Socrates and Hegel who excluded the aesthetic from theology.
Furthermore, anyone who states that any U2 song does not have a deep theological meaning behind it probably has not looked hard enough. I will use this song, A Man and A Woman from the Atomic Bomb album, as an example. The music video can be viewed at YouTube. This is a song about a mysterious form of love. The Apostle Paul describes this love in Ephesians when he says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.” (5:31-32, HCS) It is a form of love that can exist only between a man and a woman, and it is a love that is meant to be expressed in an exclusive fashion. It is sexual love. However, this song is not just a traditional love song. It is an allegory with a dual meaning. It is both about the committed love that should be expressed between a human husband and wife, and it is about the committed love that should be expressed between Christ and the church. It is a song about a covenant of love.
When the people of Israel came out of Egypt and entered their promised land, they encountered a foreign religion that directly rejected the principle of love that was contained in the Jewish religion. The Cannanite religion was a promiscuous religion in both a spiritual and physical sense. The Canaanites were promiscuous spiritually because they engaged in relationships with many false gods instead of the one true God. The Canaanites were promiscuous in a physical sense because they rejected the sexual relationships of monogamy that are the foundation of love. This song is an attempt to oppose this Cannanite ideal and present the covenant relationship of love as the true ideal in both the human and spiritual context.
The first stanza says, “Little sister don’t you worry about a thing today / Take the heat from the sun / Little sister / I know that everything is not ok / But you’re like honey on my tongue” This is a statement about the type of loving commitment that drives a monogamous sexual relationship. The relationship is about loving a single person for better or worst until death do us part. As a result, it requires that both parties remain committed in their love to the other regardless of the imperfections that inevitably come up in such a relationship. The love in such a relationship is not based on what is personally convenient for each individual. It is based on unconditional love. The references to “sister” and “honey” are symbols that are directly taken out of Song of Solomon. “I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride. I gather my myrrh with my spices. I eat my honeycomb with my honey.” (5:1) So, Bono is stating that the monogamous sexual relationship that is presented through the narrative in the Song of Solomon is true love.
In the context of the relationship between Christ and humanity, “everything is not ok” because humans rejected their marriage vows and pursued sin. However, Jesus still comforts his bride in spite of her adulteries because of his unconditional love. He tells her not to worry and to take the heat from the sun. This is a symbol for human salvation. In our physical world, the Sun sustains all life and makes it possible. In the spiritual realm, the Son is the source of life because he is the living water that makes eternal life possible. Jesus is asking his bride to accept the salvation and restoration that he, the Son, made possible through his death for her.
“True love never can be rent / But only true love can keep beauty innocent” There is nothing intrinsically good about human sexuality. Human sexuality is a tool that has been given to human beings by God. We can use it however we want. We can use it in a purely selfish fashion by living the life of a prostitute, and engaging in sexual exchanges with other people in uncommitted relationships whereby each party engages in an exchange of temporary hedonistic pleasure for temporary hedonistic pleasure. Or we can use sexuality as a means of increasing our love for another person. However, sexuality can only be used to increase love in the context of a committed relationship.
“I could never take a chance / Of losing love to find romance / In the mysterious distance / Between a man and a woman” The song contrasts the term “love” with the term “romance.” The difference between the two is that love is never ending but romance is fleeting. The error that people get into in sexual relationships is that of believing that an entire relationship should have the same type of romantic passion that exists early on in a relationship throughout the entire relationship, and this is an unrealistic expectation that causes people to go from relationship to relationship searching for something that they will never find. The ironic thing is that what they are missing out on in a committed relationship is far greater than the lost romance that they are searching for anyway. Bono rejects the value of the whole concept of romance. Despite the downs that can occur in a committed relationship, he says that he would never give up the love that he experiences through his committment to his wife. And Bono is a person that has the right to comment on this topic since he has been married to the same wife throughout his entire life, which is something that is virtually non-existent in the entertainment world.
The relationship between a man and a woman is described as a “mysterious distance.” There is a mystical quality about this type of relationship that cannot be explained in rational terms. It can only be experienced by an individual. This is similarly true of the relationship between human beings and God. One can study God scientifically all that one wants. But one will never truly understand God until one unconditionally loves and embraces him. Both relationships are mysterious, but their mysterious nature takes nothing away from their certain truth.
“You can run from love / And if it’s really love it will find you / Catch you by the heel” Love is not a preference. It is not like choosing between French or Ranch dressing. It is something that is built and programmed into us. Human beings are programmed to love because we reflect the image of a God who is pure love. As it says in Genesis, it is not good that a man should be alone. Why? Because that is not how human beings are programmed. It is contrary to our nature.
“But you can’t be numb for love / The only pain is to feel nothing at all / How can I hurt when I’m holding you?” The Greek philosophers viewed feelings as a weakness. This is why Socrates believed that God could not experience emotions. Bono correctly rejects this view as anti-Christian. The only weakness is to be numb to other persons and to be unable to experience them emotionally.
“And you’re the one, there’s no-one else / You make me want to lose myself / In the mysterious distance / Between a man and a woman” This stanza is evidence that this song is probably written from the perspective of Jesus, and it is directed toward his lover the church. He is expressing his covenant love for the church, and he says that his love for the church is so great that he is willing to lose himself. He is willing to die for his lover the church, which has prostituted herself, in order that she might be restored.
“Brown eyed girl across the street / On rue Saint Divine / I thought this is the one for me / But she was already mine / You were already mine…” It is uncertain what this stanza is referring to, but it is probably a reference to Bono’s wife Ali Hewson. As I already previously mentioned, they have been married to each other throughout their whole lives. There also seems to be some divine providence being signified. Ali was Bono’s even before she knew him. There is a sense of divine destiny here that indicates not only are men and women meant to be together, but Bono and Ali specifically were meant to be together.
“Little sister / I’ve been sleeping in the street again / Like a stray dog / Little sister / I’ve been trying to feel complete again / But you’re gone and so is God” This stanza sybmolizes the division that can occur in a relationship between a man and a woman. This person is homeless and lost in the streets because of an apparent break down in the relationship with his/her spouse. This stanza conveys the feelings of the person who is in this lost and disconnected state. On a spiritual level, one possible interpretation of this stanza is that it is a description of the lost state of humanity. Humanity has been separated from its groom because of its sin. Humanity is lost in the streets like a stray dog. Humanity is wondering what to do now that God has abandoned it.
However, there is one other possible interpretation of this stanza, which is that it is speaking about Jesus Christ. In Matthew it says, “Jesus told him, ‘Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.’” Jesus was homeless in the streets of a foreign world. So, in this passage Jesus maybe describing his feeling of disconnection. He was disconnected with his bride who sought out other lovers and then violently rejected him. He was disconnected from his Father who placed the punishment of the world upon him. “Jesus cried out with a loud voice, . . . . ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” (Mt 27:46, HCS) This interpretation is possibly more consistent with the overall tenor of this song, which seems to be a love song from Christ to his bride.
The soul needs beauty for a soul mate / When the soul wants… the soul waits …” The previously discussed sense of destiny can also be seen in the relationship between human beings and Christ. In Jeremiah, it says, “I chose you before I formed you in the womb . . . .” (1:5, HCS) Just as Bono believes that there was a sense of destiny between he and Ali, there is also a sense of destiny in the relationship between humanity and Christ. The lost and homeless soul waits patiently to be reunited with, Christ, its soul mate.
“How can I hurt when I’m holding you?” Jesus Christ died a tortuous death for his bride on a Roman cross. Yet, the pain that he felt was nothing to him because he was embracing his bride while she was torturing him. “Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.’” (Luke 23:34, HCS)
(Posted by Trask)
3 responses so far ↓
Jon // September 21, 2007 at 9:49 am
“I do not agree that U2 writes pop music”
That’s a very strange statement. But I’ll try to keep with you in spite of it. You must be working with some definition of “writes” or “pop music” that I’m not aware of.
“there is nothing that makes pop music and theology inherently mutually exclusive other than people’s internal biases”
Technically correct, though I’m not aware of any pop music that does theological work. That’s similar to saying “there is nothing that makes soap operas and differential equations mutually exclusive other than people’s internal biases”.
“there seems to be a second underlying presupposition at issue in this objection, which is that true theology cannot have an aesthetic quality to it”
While some may presuppose this, I do not. I will admit to a presupposition that theology is not vacuous.
“anyone who states that any U2 song does not have a deep theological meaning behind it probably has not looked hard enough”
This didn’t make much sense to me at first, but after reading the whole blog post, it does. Looking hard enough, seems to mean assigning meaning to the songs that cannot be construed from the text itself. For example:
“True love never can be rent / But only true love can keep beauty innocent”
Your explanation here has absolutely nothing to do with the text. In fact, it is contradictory. You say, “There is nothing intrinsically good about human sexuality”. First, love is the subject and not sexuality. It’s easy to confuse the two, based on the equivalence presented in so much of the American media today, but let’s try to me more precise than 50 Cent. Second, the lines describe two things that give love value; one intrinsic, and one functional. The intrinsic value is that it cannot be destroyed. (Let’s set aside the disconnect between this and reality, it’s poetry, exaggeration is allowed.) The functional value is that it’s the only thing in the universe that can preserve the innocence of beauty. (Let’s set aside how meaningless this statement is, it’s poetry, that’s allowed). So, your explanation contradicts what you’re explaining.
It seems you think U2 does theology because you can take some of their songs and very loosely connect them with theological ideas via some shared words. This does not even make the songs theological in nature, much less prove that they do meaningful theological work.
not important // December 12, 2007 at 5:45 pm
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