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Dwarfed by a giant bank of TV monitors, the rock star Bono gyrates across the arena stage—a dancing shaman channeling the ecstasy of thousands of U2 fans.

"In waves of regret, in waves of joy, I reached for the one I tried to destroy," he sings passionately. "You said you'd wait till the end of the world."

Hands reach out to him as he walks among the faithful. Video clips show tidal waves crashing, lightning flashing and a woman wailing.

The soundtrack to apocalypse? No, it's a splice of a TV special about a U2 tour of the early 1990s.

It's also a sign of increased interest in the spiritual significance of this immensely popular Irish rock group.

The images are taken in by a class of Calvin College students, who are probing what Bono and his band have to say as Christians to the world of pop culture.

"You hear U2 everywhere," said Bemis, one of 14 students gathered in a Calvin video theater on a recent morning. "They have so much more influence as Christians than most other people who claim to be Christian."

Tim Gruppen calls them "brutally honest."

"They say a lot of things many Christians would be ashamed to 'fess up to, some of the struggles they have," Gruppen argues.

But why a class on U2, one of the world's most adored rock bands, at a conservative Christian college?

"Religion and rock 'n' roll can meld together," insists Katie Arbogast. "U2 does the best job of it."

Many scholars and clergy agree. They say U2 is an important spiritual influence on a youth culture more enamored of popular media than of the church.

"What they have to offer is a vision," said Mark Mulder, who is teaching the U2 course during Calvin's three-week interim semester. "They're saying there's something wrong with the world. But at the same time, they offer a hope. The gospel message is embedded within."

Mulder, who teaches sociology, sees the band bringing a Christian worldview to a "very elaborate cultural critique." In that critique, they share common ground with other rock bands such as Radiohead and movies such as The Matrix trilogy, he said.

"If you listen hard enough, there are a lot of things going on in pop culture which really question the ordering of the world today, and offer a vision of what things could and should be like," said Mulder.

The Rev. Beth Maynard also sees a spiritual surge in pop culture, from the rock groups Switchfoot and Evanescence to the TV show "Joan of Arcadia."

"We're in a phase as a society right now where a great deal of theological reflection is happening in pop culture," said Maynard, an Episcopal priest from Fairhaven, Mass. "U2 were in the vanguard of that."

Maynard co-edited Get Up Off Your Knees (Cowley Publications, 2003), a collection of sermons based on U2 lyrics and biblical texts. Among them is a sermon preached in 2002 at the Calvin chapel by Steven Garber, a former Calvin scholar-in-residence.

Maynard sees the group fertilizing the ground of pop culture for the sowing of the gospel, helping people take "small steps in the direction of God."

"They seem to be seeking to just give an open invitation for people to move into the realm of asking questions about spiritual life, about God, about Christ. It's raising the questions but not overtly or forcefully prescribing the answers."

The main man asking questions is Bono, the charismatic lead singer, lyricist, and frontman of U2. His sexy swagger and powerful voice have spearheaded the group from its debut 1980 album Boy to its recent release How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

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February (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49