Report Abuse

Use this form to report abuse on the Cross Rhythms website.

Name
Email address
Article Title:	Bob Dylan
Author of reported comment:	Rob
Comment Date:	21:53 on Aug 21 2008
Comment:	Great article on a subject which hasn’t received a lot of attention. I think it’s pretty difficult to really attach anything in Dylan’s writing to Dylan himself. Apart from his gospel triumvirate from ’79 – ’81, Dylan has dealt mostly in symbolism which to me is much more meaningful than a sermon set to music. And where I think that Christian traditions have also used such symbolism to communicate the ideas of brokenness and redemption, I think it’s a mistake to think that Christianity invented them. And it’s a mistake to split the divide down secular and spiritual lines. I really think this misses the point. These concepts are human endeavors. Making art is an attempt to make sense of them as much as finding faith is, I believe. References to the divine, and to being caught up in ‘sinfulness’ as as much a part of musical traditions as they are in religious ones. You can find them in Robert Johnson as much as you can in recorded sermons. So, in my mind, it’s the power of symbols that Dylan calls upon, not necessarily his personal engagement in them. But, that’s just my feeling on it. He’s always been an enigma. And maybe that doesn’t matter either. Whatever we think, the songs have the power no matter what the intentions of the writer are, or were. Thanks for the article!

Tell us the details of your complaint:
	For verification, please type the word shown above in the box below [try a different word]