I got Sinead O'Connor's new album, Throw Down Your Arms, for Christmas and love it. I've not been into Sinead O'Connor before now, but I really wanted the album as I'm fascinated by her as a expression of post-modern spirituality.
The new album is in collaberation with Sly and Robbie and draw heavily on Rastafarian spirituality, some of you will remember the song 'A Prayer for England' that she recorded with Massive Attack, which was essentially a prayer to Jah. Jah is the name commonly used for God in the Rastafarianism. Rastafari consider Haile Selassie I to have been the religios symbol for Jah incarnate, referring to him by the title of Jah Rastafari. Here are some of the lyrics:
Jah forgive us
For forgetting
Jah help us
We need more loving
See the teachers
Are representing you
So badly
That not many can see you
Sinead O'Connor is a great example of what prof. Chris Partridge calls 'Occulture.' Occulture is a term that Christians have struggled with, because they see the world occult and assume that it refers to all things evil. Occulture is a term that is broader than that, the word 'occult' in the context of this word means the contemporary alternative religious milieu in the West and Occulture refers to the sub-culture that is associated with it. Obvious examples are the X-files, Buffy and Sabrina, i think that Sinead O'Connor is a great example of Occulture. Here are some words from her album sleeve:
"These men were part of a battle fought for self esteem and for the freeing of God from Religion. As such, they are my heroes, my teachers, my masters, my priests, my prophets, my guides and my godfathers."
