Themes of homecoming in the face of the forces of homelessness have been ubiquitous in the lyrics of singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn over his thirty-five year career and twenty-seven albums. Whether the forces that render people homeless are identified with militarism and imperialism (dominant themes in Cockburn’s early work) or with the neo-liberal forces of global capitalism (in the more recent albums), the critique is the same. But such homelessness can only be countered by a radical vision of homecoming. The imperial eschatology, which is “hooked on avarice,” can only be demythologized by an alternative vision of hope directed to homecoming. This paper will investigate Cockburn’s commitment to opening up human experience, giving voice to human longing for homecoming in the midst of displacement, and how he does so by facing head-on the essential sadness of exile with both prophetic critique and a spirituality of hope that takes most of its cues from biblical metaphors and images. Insofar as exile is never simply a matter of physical displacement from a homeland, but more perniciously a captivation of the imagination that leaves the exilic community lost in amnesia, forgetting the way home, then Cockburn’s artistry could be said to be driven towards a liberation of the imagination towards homecoming.
Author: Brian J. Walsh
Dr. Brian J. Walsh is a Christian Reformed campus minister at the University of Toronto and Adjunct Professor of Theology of Culture at Wycliffe College, Toronto School of Theology. He completed his B.A. in philosophy and religious studies at the University of Toronto, M.Phil. at the Institute for Christian Studies, and Ph.D. at McGill University in Montreal.
He has authored The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian Worldview with Richard Middleton (IVP, 1984), Truth is Stranger Than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (IVP, 1995), and Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire with Sylvia Keesmaat (IVP, 2004). He is also the author of Subversive Christianity: Imaging God in a Dangerous Time (Alta Vista Press, 1993) and numerous articles written at the interface of Christian faith and cultural realities. His present project is another co-authored book with Steve Bouma-Prediger on themes of home, homelessness, and homecoming. Dr. Walsh has been writing on the theological significance of the art of Bruce Cockburn for many years. Cockburn seems bemused by his interest.