African American Culture and Bob Dylan: Why He Matters (1997)

Where black is the color, none is the number."

These are the words of songwriter and musician Bob Dylan, written when he was just twenty-one years old. They are from his haunting and beautiful song A Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall, released in 1963. CLICK HERE to read more

Preaching the gospel

On his most recent “Theme Time Radio Hour” show ( “DOCTORS”), Bob Dylan made some comments that I think are worth highlighting outside of the usual summaries of that program that appear here. It was right after he played You Done What The Doctor Couldn’t Do by the Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi. He said the following: CLICK HERE to read more

Bob Dylan, Iconoclastically Faithful

In the 1980s, the iconclastic Bob Dylan dared convert to Christianity. His fans panicked because he was no longer preaching to their choirs songs they already knew. CLICK HERE TO read more

Host of church singers serves music of a born-again icon : The gospel truth about Dylan (2003)

Some years later, when I asked him if he still stood by his line: "It's easy to see without looking very far that not much is really sacred," Dylan replied: "'Flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark.' Yes, I stand by that. I find all of that still pretty much true." CLICK HERE to read more

Popular Culture: The Ballad of John and Jesus (2000)

Two books tell the story behind John Lennon's short-lived conversion. CLICK HERE to read more

Pastor by day, rocker by night

Hearing God speak through lyrics of popular music

Call him a renegade or call him enlightened, Rev. Toby Jones of Harbor Springs feels he's onto something mainstream Christianity has overlooked. CLICK HERE to read more

"Pete Seeger: The Power of Song," Feb. 27, PBS

"If I Had a Hammer," "Turn, Turn, Turn," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" All three of these familiar folk tunes, together with a host of others, were first popularized by veteran singer-songwriter Pete Seeger. CLICK HERE to read more

You Gotta Serve Someone, Right?

I’ve been working on a message that I’ll be giving at a local university’s “InterVarsity” group towards the end of this month. The topic is “Jesus and Justice,” and the text is outta Luke (chapter 16—vv. 19-31). CLICK HERE to read more

To tell the truth... - Gotta Serve Somebody

It’s not every day that I begin The Source by quoting Bob Dylan, but today it seems appropriate, so let me quote a few lines from his song Gotta Serve Somebody. It’s a simple song in which the chorus is broken up by poetically parallel verses. Here are some of the verses: CLICK HERE to read more

God Said to Abraham,....

This past Sunday, the Sunday School class my wife and I attended had a lesson on the "testing of Abraham" found in Genesis 22. The English Standard Version reads: CLICK HERE to read more

Shared Song, Communal Memory

THEY meet on the first Monday of the month at the Universalist Unitarian Church here, not to worship but to sing. Just to sing. CLICK HERE to read more

Should a Christian listen to Bob Dylan?

I recently received an email from a Christian who read a blog I wrote about a Dylan song. He was previously a Dylan fan, but he stopped listening to Dylan after he became a Christian. He felt that his new found faith in Christ was incompatible with Dylan. Here is a portion of his email: CLICK HERE to read more

Bob Dylan and Christianity, with a passing dismissal of power evangelism

Having just seen the Bob Dylan film I’m Not There and reading John Wimber’s Power Evangelism, Bob Dylan and John Wimber have been on my mind a lot this week. So it was interesting to find a very interesting comment on Wimber in an article about Bob Dylan. CLICK HERE to read more

Dylan Eucharist: Come Gather 'Round People Wherever You Roam

The Dylan Eucharist was a gathering force - bringing together people who love Dylan's music, people interested in a musical liturgy, and people who were curious about hearing the folk/rock tunes of this legend prayed in church. CLICK HERE to read more

Christian Music Groups

Gospel music has often crossed over into the mainstream and many artists, such as Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan, have explored their Christian beliefs. CLICK HERE to read more

DYLAN CO-PRODUCER/MUSICIAN 65 TODAY

Barry Beckett, who co-produced Slow Train Coming and Saved with Jerry Wexler, is 65 today. Here's his entry from The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia: CLICK HERE to read more

Church uses Dylan tunes to share God's message

They reflected, prayed and sang to music that had them gently rocking.

Whether thirsting for spiritual renewal or merely inquisitive, 140 worshipers listened to the gospel songs of legendary rock-poet Bob Dylan at Sunday's i-Witness alternative service at United Methodist Church of Geneva. CLICK HERE to read more

Dylan Service Peaks Interest

Thanks in large part to the Dylan Devotional Blog, I have been getting quite a few e-mails from all around the world regarding our service tomorrow, so I thought it would make sense to give some background and clarification here. CLICK HERE to read more

PBS aired a 3 part, 6 hour special on American Jewry, and THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE MENTION OF BOB DYLAN.

They did a lengthy bit on Jews in the civil rights struggle, and NOT A SINGLE MENTION OF BOB DYLAN. ClICK HERE to read more

Dylan Eucharist Service

United Methodist Church of Geneva
Sunday February 3, 2008

211 Hamilton St.

Geneva, Illinois 60134

630-232-7120

Prelude -- Gotta Serve Somebody
Help us to remember, God, that we who gather today may all be different, but you are what unites us in service to you and the world.

Call to Worship -- A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
We - your children - have been many places, doing and seeing many things which draw us to be cleaned in the waters of baptism and transformed.

CLICK HERE to read more

The Sixties

The people reading this have some awareness of wrestling with God in their lives. My goal with this blog is to get other people to engage in the same inner debate to loosen the soil of their soul that the Spirit may grow. Today I put on my tie-dyed shirt and headband and consider how the Sixties has loosened the baby boomers soil. CLICK HERE to read more

BOB DYLAN LIVE ALBUM SET FOR RELEASE

“Re-Transmissions”, released on March 3 and only available in Britain, includes Dylan's sets from Saturday Night Live in 1979. CLICK HERE to read more

Willie Nelson's, Moment of Forever, (due Jan. 29)

The album concludes with an almost eight-minute version of Bob Dylan’s gospel number “Gotta Serve Somebody” from his first album after his Christian conversion. CLICK HERE to read more

Cat Power "Jukebox" (Matador) ***

The lone new original, "Song to Bobby," is a spare homage to Bob Dylan that rolls sweetly out of Marshall's slow-grooving, blues-rock take on Dylan's "I Believe in You." CLICK HERE to read more

St. George's celebrates the U2charist

Over the last two and one half years, the U2 Eucharist has received international media attention from newspapers, People Magazine, Nightline, The Daily Show, and BBC presentations and documentaries for its innovative use of the band's biblically-rich lyrics and social justice message, for its ability to bring together people of many different generations in a context of worship, and as a tool for raising awareness and empowering communities to respond to the Millennium Development Goals. CLICK HERE to read more

Shout, Sister, Shout!

Last Friday night Alan and I went to the KESWICK THEATRE in Glenside, PA to see a benefit concert held for the Memorial of SISTER ROSETTA THARPE. CLICK HERE to read more

10 Songs About God

God. The Big Guy. The Man Upstairs. The Creator and Ruler of the Universe. The Sacred Mother. A Concept By Which We Measure Our Pain. Anyway you express the idea of god, the fact remains that god has made quite a few appearances in pop music through the decades, being as he is an important aspect of human existence. CLICK HERE to read more

Friday January 11 is Sister Rosetta Tharpe Day

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was gospel’s first national superstar: the musician who, beginning in the late 1930s, took the sounds of the “Good News” music then developing in black churches to popular stages and Saturday-night audiences. CLICK HERE to read more

Benefit to ring with the memory of a gospel great

Marie Knight returned in a big way last year, however, with the acclaimed Let Us Get Together, a collection of gospel numbers by the Rev. Gary Davis that featured Larry Campbell, a guitarist best known for his work with Bob Dylan. CLICK HERE to read more

The religious are slacking in the artistic arenas

There was a time when rock music inspired cultural change, asking important questions about life itself. Steve Turner, a journalist who interviewed many of these philosopher-poets, writes in his work “Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts” about how people such as Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Pete Townshend and John Lennon were “no longer simply entertainers by prophets and shamans. CLICK HERE to read more

'BOB DYLAN IN CONCERT' FROM AUSTRALIAN SHOW (1986)

The set begins with Mr. Dylan talking to the audience about heroes. ''I don't know who your hero is,'' he says, ''maybe Mel Gibson or Michael Jackson or Bruce Springsteen.'' Mr. Dylan's, as it turns out, is ''the Son of God,'' which is the cue for ''In the Garden'' from his 1980 album ''Saved.'' CLICK HERE to read more

Starting the Year with Bob Dylan

I’ve had an old 1989 tune by Bob Dylan running through my head for the last couple weeks. Unlike some other things that get stuck in my mind – like the obnoxious ads for DiTech and Head On, or Pa-Rum-Pa-Pum-Pum - this tune has given me some benefit as it has been on perpetual replay. “A Political World” may turn out to be a decent theme song for a lot of us in 2008. CLICK HERE to read more

JOKERMAN

To call Bob Dylan the greatest Christian poet of the 20th Century (and the 21st Century so far) is probably to damn him with faint praise. CLICK HERE to read more

Caroling with Bob Dylan

On the nice new collection of holiday songs organized by E Street Band member Garry Tallent, Texas rocker Joe Ely chooses one from Bob Dylan. CLICK HERE to read more

BOB DYLAN- MODERN TIMES

At 65, Dylan has seen and done it all, musically, and definitely the last three albums are more reflective especially about his own mortality and on Modern Times, the music is less visceral and less melancholic with one eye firmly focused on God. CLICK HERE to read more

Bob Dylan Podcast - Episode 10

“Gotta Serve Somebody” - In the late 1970’s, Bob Dylan changed again by declaring that he was a born-again Christian. Much of his music from this time reflects his new religious awakening. In this podcast, we’ll hear how Bob Dylan incorporated gospel and more explicit religious ideas into his music. CLICK HERE to hear

my favorite Christian singer - Bob Dylan

I found this album after listening to 3rd Day's "Offerings" album which played "Saved".

I havent listened to the other songs yet - just bought Slow Train Coming, but feel compelled to review... The lyrics of Saved alone contain as much theology as the great hymns of old - every line is profound and taken from the Bible. CLICK HERE to read more

Ron Rosenbaum: Calling All Dylan Fans

I know. there are Dylan fans and there are Dylan fanatics and there are “Dylanologists” and there are what I call “Bobolators”, like Shakespeare’s “Bardolators”, who believe he can do no wrong and that every song, every line, every moment in every movie is a gem.

Well I have a question for any or all of you. It grew out of a conversation I had with a genuinely knowledgeable and thoughtful Dylan enthusiast I met with last week. He was interviewing me about journalism in general not Dylan, but happened to mention that he had my Playboy interview with the Bobster on his iPod! CLICK HERE to read more

Opening the Gates of Eden: Bob Dylan and the Bible

I never read the Bible until I heard Bob Dylan. CLICK HERE to read more

The Sojourning Wayfarer: Gotta Serve Somebody

"Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. CLICK HERE to read more