Tangled Up in the Bible: Bob Dylan and Scripture

Bob Dylan has had a profound influence on the shape of modern pop music (folk, rock, blues) and as a modern literary figure. He has also attracted enormous attention from both professional and amateur “interpreters”.

In this book Gilmour offers a thorough study of Dylan’s reading of scriptures. He explores the ways in which Dylan transforms biblical images and concepts when he incorporates them into his literary world; it is an attempt to listen to the echoes of scripture in his published works. Gilmour closely reads Dylan’s poems and songs and provides commentaries on several themes found in Dylan’s work: the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus; apocalypse, justice and judgement; oppressive religion and religious irony. Through these readings, Gilmour calls attention to the various ways Dylan uses scripture both in an explicit and an implicit manner.