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The Gospel according to Bob Dylan: The Old, Old Story of Modern Times
Since the early 1960s, music fans have found Bob Dylan's spirituality fascinating, and many of them have identified Dylan as a kind of spiritual guru. This book, written by a scholar who is a longtime fan, examines Dylan's mystique, asking why audiences respond to him as a spiritual guide. This book reveals Bob Dylan as a major twentieth- and twenty-first-century religious thinker with a body of relevant work that goes far beyond a handful of gospel albums.
- GenresMusicNonfictionBiography
216 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 1, 2011
“My stuff were songs, you know? They weren’t sermons. If you examine the songs, I don’t believe you’re gonna find anything in there that I’m a spokesman for anybody or anything really.” Dylan, p 136
Spokesman or not, there is so much to say about Dylan’s spiritual commentary. Unfortunately, Michael Gilmour spends 160 pages not saying it. For some such reason, the majority of The Gospel According to Bob Dylan describes the theory of how to interpret music and verse, then defends the impossibility of interpreting any consistent, clear or fixed message from Dylan himself. “When asked about Dylan’s religious beliefs, my answer is always the same. I do not know. Ultimately, it is none of my business. All I can say with any confidence is that religious language is everywhere in the songs.” (38) For goodness sake, is anyone who listens to Dylan really demanding consistency and clarity? If you’re going to take up the business of tantalizing us with such a great title, take a shot at describing some content, any content!
The grand conclusion of this ‘Gospel’ is that Dylan uses Biblical language, “that can morph into whatever he wants” (110), to grasp at some spiritual answers. Yeah, we all do that. The Bible does that. Dylan isn’t a whit less consistent than the Biblical images of God, nor a smudge less clear than the holy text. But he’s a genius, and we want to understand what his religious story means, just as we want to understand better what the story of the Bible means, in its grand schemes and subtle details, regardless of the clouds of cultural changes and varieties of interpretation. To shed some light on that story was the job of this book, and it failed. Miserably.
As a compilation of Dylan’s uses of religious themes, it only failed moderately. Gilmour brings us into movies, poetry and other text that regular music fans would never find.
As an analysis of how culture has sanctified the artist, it actually does a pretty good job. Pages 24-25 list some musical greats raising him to the heights of divine inspiration, and much of the book returns to that theme.
As a description of Dylan’s own shifty acknowledgment of his artistic sanctity, even better. Dylan is shown “insisting he is neither a prophet, nor a prophet’s son,” (26) and demanding, “I wasn’t a preacher performing miracles.” (28)
As an introduction to the academic study of meaning-making, this is quite useful. Gilmour uses the likes of John Cobb, Paul Tillich, Stanley Fish, Don Saliers, and Walter Benjamin; and describes their contributions well and appropriately.
To be fair, there are a few useful connections of Biblical language with Dylan lyrics, especially at page 104. But comparisons, for instance, between Blowing in the Wind and the equivocation of the word ‘wind’ in the Biblical languages (Gr, pneuma & Heb, ruah = wind, breath, spirit, or Spirit), or between Dylan’s support of the “weak and vulnerable” Hurricane Carter with Jesus’ preference for the poor, are trite and sappy. This book is a window dressing to be avoided.
Spokesman or not, there is so much to say about Dylan’s spiritual commentary. Unfortunately, Michael Gilmour spends 160 pages not saying it. For some such reason, the majority of The Gospel According to Bob Dylan describes the theory of how to interpret music and verse, then defends the impossibility of interpreting any consistent, clear or fixed message from Dylan himself. “When asked about Dylan’s religious beliefs, my answer is always the same. I do not know. Ultimately, it is none of my business. All I can say with any confidence is that religious language is everywhere in the songs.” (38) For goodness sake, is anyone who listens to Dylan really demanding consistency and clarity? If you’re going to take up the business of tantalizing us with such a great title, take a shot at describing some content, any content!
The grand conclusion of this ‘Gospel’ is that Dylan uses Biblical language, “that can morph into whatever he wants” (110), to grasp at some spiritual answers. Yeah, we all do that. The Bible does that. Dylan isn’t a whit less consistent than the Biblical images of God, nor a smudge less clear than the holy text. But he’s a genius, and we want to understand what his religious story means, just as we want to understand better what the story of the Bible means, in its grand schemes and subtle details, regardless of the clouds of cultural changes and varieties of interpretation. To shed some light on that story was the job of this book, and it failed. Miserably.
As a compilation of Dylan’s uses of religious themes, it only failed moderately. Gilmour brings us into movies, poetry and other text that regular music fans would never find.
As an analysis of how culture has sanctified the artist, it actually does a pretty good job. Pages 24-25 list some musical greats raising him to the heights of divine inspiration, and much of the book returns to that theme.
As a description of Dylan’s own shifty acknowledgment of his artistic sanctity, even better. Dylan is shown “insisting he is neither a prophet, nor a prophet’s son,” (26) and demanding, “I wasn’t a preacher performing miracles.” (28)
As an introduction to the academic study of meaning-making, this is quite useful. Gilmour uses the likes of John Cobb, Paul Tillich, Stanley Fish, Don Saliers, and Walter Benjamin; and describes their contributions well and appropriately.
To be fair, there are a few useful connections of Biblical language with Dylan lyrics, especially at page 104. But comparisons, for instance, between Blowing in the Wind and the equivocation of the word ‘wind’ in the Biblical languages (Gr, pneuma & Heb, ruah = wind, breath, spirit, or Spirit), or between Dylan’s support of the “weak and vulnerable” Hurricane Carter with Jesus’ preference for the poor, are trite and sappy. This book is a window dressing to be avoided.
May 14, 2025
I’ve been a Bob Dylan fan since I was 11 or 12, and I have a particular penchant for the gospel albums, so I was looking forward to reading this book when I came across it on the library shelves. The first 50 or so pages seems a long, slow warm up to the topic – first the author talking about his own personal relation to Dylan’s music (which was not of interest to me, as I don’t know the author), and then a lot about what the books is GOING to be about and why it’s worth writing….and then we finally start to get to the meat. Unfortunately, the meat of the book, it turned out, was not substantial.
I suppose I was expecting more of a focus on the religious meaning of Dylan’s music, a closer look at the biblical allusion in his lyrics, some serious song analysis, and some more information about his spiritual journey. There was some of that, to be sure, but it didn’t go deep, and there was a lot more focus on the movie “Masked and Anonymous” and the book “Chronicles” than was of interest to me.
However, as Dylan caught even more flak from his fans when he “went Christian” than when he went electric, I did appreciate the author’s defense of Dylan’s sincerity in the so-called “Christian period” and his argument that it should not be regarded as a phase because faith is always evolving.
I didn’t feel like I learned anything new or gained any deeper insight into Dylan’s music or lyrics from this book. A non-fan might be introduced to some new works and insights, but it’s hard for me to imagine a non-fan picking up a book like this in the first place.
I suppose I was expecting more of a focus on the religious meaning of Dylan’s music, a closer look at the biblical allusion in his lyrics, some serious song analysis, and some more information about his spiritual journey. There was some of that, to be sure, but it didn’t go deep, and there was a lot more focus on the movie “Masked and Anonymous” and the book “Chronicles” than was of interest to me.
However, as Dylan caught even more flak from his fans when he “went Christian” than when he went electric, I did appreciate the author’s defense of Dylan’s sincerity in the so-called “Christian period” and his argument that it should not be regarded as a phase because faith is always evolving.
I didn’t feel like I learned anything new or gained any deeper insight into Dylan’s music or lyrics from this book. A non-fan might be introduced to some new works and insights, but it’s hard for me to imagine a non-fan picking up a book like this in the first place.
June 19, 2017
Enjoyed this book that looked more closely than most at Dylan's references to and interactions with the Bible/Gospel and talked more about where he is spiritually. I liked it, though I had hoped for a little more insight than the author gave. Fact is, Dylan is a very private person--though a huge public figure--and he is not one who generally plows out a nice straight linear line in whatever he does. If you want to get a real good feel for how that works out--give Dylan's Chronicles, Vol. 1 a read. It's an amazing book, but it anything but a chronological telling of his life! And where is Vol. 2 of the 3-volume series, Mr. Dylan? We're waiting...anytime now!
November 27, 2017
The author makes the claim that Dylan, not just after his conversion to Christian, but since the beginning of his recording career has used biblical themes, lines, or allusions in a careful, meaningful way. He presents this lyrics as something we should read into.
The Bible permeates western culture, as it has for centuries. A person may be irreligious, Hindu, Buddhist, (this can go on and on) and still have a surface knowledge of the ten commandments, the beatitudes, the so called "golden rule," the gospels, and any number of certain stories, like Noah and the flood, Cain and Able, the near-sacrificing of Isaac, the exodus, (this too can go on.)
My point is, most people are familiar with Biblical themes and stories through second or third hand sources. Certain phrases, motifs and ideas have soaked into our culture, and in many cases you can internalize all of it without ever opening a Bible. The stories and approximations of theology have became things in themselves detached from the Biblical narrative and devoid of any real meaning.
In The Times They Are A-Changin' from '63 Dylan writes
"The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past... And the first one now will later be last"
It's a reference to Matthew 20:16 but one needn't read Matthew to know the reference, or to be familiar with the saying "the first shall be last" or any variation thereof.
Take, for one more example, Highway 61 Revisited from '65:
God said to Abraham, 'Kill me a son'
Abe says, 'Man, you must be puttin’ me on'
God say, 'No.' Abe say, 'What?'
God say, 'You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin’ you better run'
Well Abe says, “Where do you want this killin’ done?' "
The story of Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac is repurposed here and weaved into the song's narrative. Again, most people would be familiar with the basic details of the story.
Compare it to Leonard Cohen's more deliberate The Story of Isaac
He said, "I've had a vision
And you know I'm strong and holy,
I must do what I've been told."
...
Well, the trees they got much smaller,
The lake a lady's mirror,
We stopped to drink some wine.
Then he threw the bottle over.
Broke a minute later
And he put his hand on mine.
Thought I saw an eagle
But it might have been a vulture,
I never could decide.
Then my father built an altar..."
My point isn't that Dylan didn't pepper his lyrics with Biblical references in themes - He often did. But up until, oh, say, John Wesley Harding from '67 I wouldn't bet on any of it being directly lifted from the Bible, and the author just fails to convince me that even from his first two original songs he was mining the Bible in a deep and meaningful way. The stuff probably came to him as he now presents it to us: By it's presence in our culture, by it's constant adaptions, appropriations and retellings.
The worst part of the book may be that the author spends much of his 160 pages offering various caveats and encouraging us to discover what the songs mean to us personally, divorced from whatever they're supposed to mean. All well and good, but it simply isn't the book the title and description would lead you to believe - And the few pages of the Gospel According to Bob Dylan that actually deal with the subject mater are simply a stretch.
The Bible permeates western culture, as it has for centuries. A person may be irreligious, Hindu, Buddhist, (this can go on and on) and still have a surface knowledge of the ten commandments, the beatitudes, the so called "golden rule," the gospels, and any number of certain stories, like Noah and the flood, Cain and Able, the near-sacrificing of Isaac, the exodus, (this too can go on.)
My point is, most people are familiar with Biblical themes and stories through second or third hand sources. Certain phrases, motifs and ideas have soaked into our culture, and in many cases you can internalize all of it without ever opening a Bible. The stories and approximations of theology have became things in themselves detached from the Biblical narrative and devoid of any real meaning.
In The Times They Are A-Changin' from '63 Dylan writes
"The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past... And the first one now will later be last"
It's a reference to Matthew 20:16 but one needn't read Matthew to know the reference, or to be familiar with the saying "the first shall be last" or any variation thereof.
Take, for one more example, Highway 61 Revisited from '65:
God said to Abraham, 'Kill me a son'
Abe says, 'Man, you must be puttin’ me on'
God say, 'No.' Abe say, 'What?'
God say, 'You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin’ you better run'
Well Abe says, “Where do you want this killin’ done?' "
The story of Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac is repurposed here and weaved into the song's narrative. Again, most people would be familiar with the basic details of the story.
Compare it to Leonard Cohen's more deliberate The Story of Isaac
He said, "I've had a vision
And you know I'm strong and holy,
I must do what I've been told."
...
Well, the trees they got much smaller,
The lake a lady's mirror,
We stopped to drink some wine.
Then he threw the bottle over.
Broke a minute later
And he put his hand on mine.
Thought I saw an eagle
But it might have been a vulture,
I never could decide.
Then my father built an altar..."
My point isn't that Dylan didn't pepper his lyrics with Biblical references in themes - He often did. But up until, oh, say, John Wesley Harding from '67 I wouldn't bet on any of it being directly lifted from the Bible, and the author just fails to convince me that even from his first two original songs he was mining the Bible in a deep and meaningful way. The stuff probably came to him as he now presents it to us: By it's presence in our culture, by it's constant adaptions, appropriations and retellings.
The worst part of the book may be that the author spends much of his 160 pages offering various caveats and encouraging us to discover what the songs mean to us personally, divorced from whatever they're supposed to mean. All well and good, but it simply isn't the book the title and description would lead you to believe - And the few pages of the Gospel According to Bob Dylan that actually deal with the subject mater are simply a stretch.
April 22, 2011
I was a tad bit disappointed with the read. I was looking for more story than collections of facts and quotes. I wanted to hear more about Dylan's spiritual journey, which I did hear some of, but I suppose was anticipating hearing about it more like a story in a living room vs. a newspaper clipping collection.
It was a hard book to get into right away for me. Makes me want to read Chronicles 1 instead.
It was a hard book to get into right away for me. Makes me want to read Chronicles 1 instead.
April 1, 2014
According to my past self I read this. I barely remember it, but I think it mostly talked about Dylan's use of Biblical imagery.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews