Consider these words from a concert sermon: "I read the Bible a lot; it just happens I do. It tells you specific things in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation, which might apply to these times here. Because Russia is going to come down and attack the Middle East; it says this in the Bible. I've been reading all kinds of books my whole life, and I really never found any truth in any of them. These things in the Bible, they seem to uplift me and tell me the truth."

Here and elsewhere, Dylan modeled his speech and demeanor at this time according to certain conventions of gospel music performance. This is what gospel musicians do. They proclaim the old, old story in modern times. They pass along the Christian teachings they received, just like St. Paul himself: "I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received" (1 Cor. 15:3).

Christians and Christian musicians repeat and preserve the basic elements of the gospel tradition as they receive it, without innovation. Does it follow that Dylan believed or understood all aspects of this new teaching? He certainly did not tether himself to this one form of religious discourse (Christian fundamentalism).

As he moved on from gospel music and its various conventions, his religious quest brought him into new conversations, including associations with Lubavitcher Hasidism, a sect of Orthodox Judaism.

Bob Dylan's music moves many listeners out of themselves, out of their "habitual, common-sense world." Falling under his dancing spell, we end up chasing the shadow he sees. This escape from the common-sense world leads a few listeners to something

approaching religious meaning.

Their thoughts might turn, no matter how far removed from organized religion, to the idea of justice, to the idea of a divine being, to the idea of reliable, meaningful, enduring love. The music creates space for such concepts, pressing at the walls of our habitual patterns of thought, allowing us room to contemplate new possibilities. One writer goes so far as to call Dylan a "musical theologian."

Pop culture provides forms of spiritual encounter that the consumer helps construct. As noted above, the religious significance of Bob Dylan does not lie entirely in the man himself, or even in his music and lyrics. He is not a systematic theologian or self-conscious religious teacher, presenting a single, consistent, fully expressed and nuanced worldview or religious perspective.

Rather, religious meaning and insight—the gospel according to Bob Dylan—spring from the engagement of the individual fan with his art. If we find answers in Dylan, it is because we are already asking particular questions. If we find comfort or meaning in the songs, it is because we are looking for ways to articulate pre-existing conditions. We integrate his words and sounds with the ideas, knowledge, needs and assumptions we bring to the music.

This, in my view, is why the religious material in Bob Dylan's songs and writings matter, why it warrants close examination along with the songs of other musicians who deal with religious questions. Bob Dylan's imaginative work provides an artistic world in which to explore our own ideas and questions about religion.

Michael J. Gilmour is Associate Professor of New Testament and English Literature at Providence College in Manitoba, Canada. He is the author of Gods and Guitars: Seeking the Sacred in Post-1960s Popular Music and editor of Call Me the Seeker: Listening to Religion in Popular Music.

This article is excerpted with permission from The Gospel According to Bob Dylan: The Old, Old Story for Modern Times ($15, Westminster John Knox Press), © Westminster John Knox Press,
February 2011.

You can listen to a podcast interview with the author here.