The CT Review: Watered-Down Love
"Bob Dylan encountered Jesus in 1978, and that light has not entirely faded as he turns 60"
Steve Turner | posted 5/21/2001 12:00AM

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Still, Down the Highway does prompt questions for me about how different things might have been if Dylan had met a greater variety of Christians and become a part of the worldwide church. The Dylan depicted in this book is someone so highly protected that even old friends aren't allowed to see him. That none of his gatekeepers have valued his spiritual life might explain why he has grown in isolation.
One of the most startling remarks in the book comes not from the more than 250 friends and colleagues who spoke to Sounes but from Pope John Paul II, when Dylan performed "Blowin' in the Wind" at the 1997 World Eucharistic Conference in Bologna. "You say the answer is blowing in the wind," said the Pope. "So it is. But it is not the wind that blows things away. It is the wind that is the breath and life of the Holy Spirit, the voice that calls and says, 'Come!'"
Steve Turner is a veteran rock journalist and author of several biographies, including Trouble Man: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye (The Ecco Press, 2000).
Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere
Christianity Today's other articles on Bob Dylan include:
Bob Dylan: Still Blowin' in the Wind | Christianity Today reviews Dylan's work before the singer's conversion to Christianity. By Daniel J. Evearitt (Dec. 3, 1976)
Bob Dylan Finds His Source | A call into the bars, into the streets, into the world, to repentance. By Noel Paul Stookey (Jan. 4, 1980)
Not Buying into the Subculture | Slow Train Coming reveals that Bob Dylan's quest for answers has been satisfied. By David Singer (Jan. 4, 1980)
Has Born-again Bob Dylan Returned to Judaism? | The singer's response to an Olympics ministry opportunity might settle the matter once for all. (Jan. 13, 1984)
Wheaton College professor of English Alan Jacobs has written on Bob Dylan for Christianity Today sister publication Books & Culture and for poet's official site, BobDylan.com. The former article looks at Dylan's Basement Tapes, the latter reflects on Dylan's conversion.
In addition to daily links to Dylan-related news from around the world, Expecting Rain has bajillions of its own pages about his influences, lyrics, records, and concerts.
A Lily Among Thorns obsessively analyzes Dylan's songs, concert statements, interviews, and ephemera for evidence of Dylan's Christianity.
Tangled Up in Jews does something similar with Dylan's Judaism, but hasn't been updated since 1997.
How Long Has It Been Since Dylan Played … notes that "Gotta Serve Somebody" last made a concert appearance in 2000, while "I Believe In You" has been in storage since 1998. "Property Of Jesus" has apparently never been played live.
Down the Highway
is available at Amazon.com and other book retailers.
Sounes's Down the Highway was excerpted in The National Post, which continues to cover the revelations of Dylan's secret wife.
Clean Cut Kid has a horrible site design, but it also has excerpts of Down the Highway and a copy of Dylan's marriage license.