Last Update: 04/05/2026 at 2:50 PM EST
Dylan's Christian Era Reconsidered
Coverage from Paste Magazine, faroutmagazine.co.uk, and others
Articles
56
Latest Article
03/18
Active Days
14786
Executive Summary
Critics revisit Dylan's born-again period, arguing the Christian albums and tours remain artistically vital despite backlash and uneven reception.
- Dylan's 1978 tour experiences in San Diego and Tucson preceded his Christian conversion
- He briefly refused to perform secular songs and turned concerts into revival-style events
- Slow Train Coming was recorded with Jerry Wexler, Mark Knopfler, and Muscle Shoals musicians
- Saved was cut at Muscle Shoals and is described as the most direct gospel album
- Shot of Love shifts toward rock and away from overt gospel, signaling a move back to secular material
- The period drew backlash from fans and criticism from figures like John Lennon, Leonard Cohen, and Nick Cave
- Despite mixed reviews, the era produced standout songs like Every Grain of Sand and Pressing On
Quick Facts
- What: A born-again Christian phase shaped songs tours and albums
- Where: San Diego Tucson Muscle Shoals and San Francisco
- Why: A reported conversion experience changed his artistic direction
- Who: Bob Dylan and his touring and studio collaborators
- When: Primarily 1978 through 1981
Coverage Timeline: 14786 Days
Featured Article
On 2025-08-08, The Dylan Review published a review of Lucy Sante's Six Sermons for Dylan and the Trouble No More project.
Additional Articles
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Grantland reviews Bob Dylan in the '80s: Volume One in an online feature that reevaluates Dylan's 1980s albums and their legacy.
The article profiles how Bob Dylan's 1965-1966 studio work in New York and performances at the Newport Folk Festival redefined rock and folk traditions.
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In a retrospective feature, Paste Magazine explores Bob Dylan's late-1970s Christian conversion and early-1980s gospel albums created and performed in the United States.
In a retrospective feature, Far Out Magazine surveys Bob Dylan's 1979-1981 gospel period, from Muscle Shoals studio sessions to fiery concert performances.
Dylan revisits gospel material during the Warfield residency and subsequent 1980s tours in the United States.
In a review for Moment magazine, Richie Unterberger analyzes Andrew McCarron's Light Come Shining about Bob Dylan's transformations across several decades.
In an AV Club online feature, AV Club writers revisit Bob Dylan's Christian trilogy, analyzing the albums' history, reception, and music.
Dylan performed a fourteen-night gospel residency at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco during 1979-1980, highlighting songs from Slow Train Coming and Saved.
The Washington Independent Review of Books published a review of Dylan: Things Have Changed recently.
Bob Dylan’s 1980s output and tours, marked by gospel phases and pop experiments, faced commercial and critical decline across the decade in the USA and internationally.
psychobabble200.blogspot.com / Mike Segretto
04-11-2025
In April 2025, a Psychobabble blog review examines Sean Egan's Decade of Dissent, a book about Bob Dylan's 1960s songwriting and recordings.
Raphael Falco argues on 2025-08-08 that portrayals and myths of Bob Dylan's inspiration have obscured study of his songwriting craft.
On 2022-08-04, The Dylan Review published a review of Dylan at 80 edited by Gary Browning and Constantine Sandis on thethedylanreview.org.
The Dylan Review article recH7II5i6oMRyABN, published 2021-07-25, argues Hal Lindsey shaped Dylan's Christian eschatology during the gospel era within the Vineyard Fellowship context.
Bob Dylan's gospel song 'Pressing On' is analyzed through its 1978 San Diego origins, 1979–1980 concert performances in San Francisco and Toronto, and later cinematic reinterpretation.
In this review on Peter Stone Brown Archives, Peter Stone Brown evaluates Seth Rogovoy's book Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet.
On 2025-11-10, Cult Following published a review of a bootleg recording of Bob Dylan's November 1981 Saenger Performing Arts Centre concert, highlighting gospel arrangements and reinterpretations.
Mid Century Cinema published a list of eighty transcendent Bob Dylan songs on May 27, 2021 on its website to mark Dylan's eightieth birthday.
On May 21, 2021, a WordPress blog published a reflective tribute surveying Bob Dylan's sixty-year career on the occasion of Bob Dylan's 80th birthday.
The article analyzes Bob Dylan's recurring apocalyptic themes across his early folk records, sixties anthems, Basement Tapes, country period, and gospel phase.
Reviewer analyzes Marshall's Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life and Dylan's gospel period on quavid.wordpress.com in 2017.
Mitch Bogen published a 2024 blog post on his blog analyzing Dylan's born again phase.
The article reviews Robert Polito's book After the Flood, which reexamines Bob Dylan's 1991–2024 late-career work as a vital creative period.
On the Adriandenning site, reviews from the 1960s to the 1990s analyze Dylan's evolution from folk to electric and back.
On September 2, 2020, Religion Unplugged published a review examining religious themes on Bob Dylan's album Rough and Rowdy Ways.
Fox News Digital reports on the archival book Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine and Bob Dylan's gospel era, drawing on interviews in Tulsa and historical tour accounts.
Elliptical Movements published Jan 16, 2024 a review analyzing Dylan's 1980s work in Song Dance Man Vol II.
On Sep 07, 2023, the Elliptical Movements blog published a review of Michael Gray's Song & Dance Man Vol 1 Language & Tradition (50th Anniversary).
In 1985, Vanity Fair published an article assessing Bob Dylan's Live Aid performance and Empire Burlesque album as indicators of his artistic decline.
The Forward reviews Bob Dylan's 2022 book The Philosophy of Modern Song, assessing Jewish themes, song choices, and critical approaches in a wide-ranging cultural analysis.
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In an article for American Songwriter, the publication analyzes Bob Dylan's 1981 song The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar and its early-1980s context.
On 2026-01-19, Cult Following published a review criticizing Dylan's Gospel Plow and related playlists on the official YouTube channel for misrepresenting sources and context.
On 2022-07-28, Cult Following published a review of Bob Dylan's New Morning focusing on a shift in sound and religious themes.
In November 1978, Bob Dylan experienced a conversion to Christianity in San Diego and Tucson, prompting gospel albums, controversial tours, and later Catholic engagements.
Bob Dylan’s musical reinventions and spiritual journey are examined in an essay at Relevant Magazine, tracing his Greenwich Village origins, 1965 electric shift, and gospel-era records.
On 2020-07-22, Art & Theology published a review of Bob Dylan's album Rough and Rowdy Ways, examining its songs, themes, and 1950s influences.
Volume 13 of The Bootleg Series, Trouble No More, covers Dylan's 1979–1981 gospel years and is planned for release later in the year.
On 2013-05-26, TheScensci published an analysis of Dylan's two models of poetry in relation to his political songs.
In 2003, TwilightDawning.com analyzes Dylan's faith, citing Restless Pilgrim, gospel releases, a Sundance film preview, and a tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Dylan pursues a Christian gospel phase in the late 1970s, releasing Slow Train Coming, Saved, and Shot of Love and dividing his worldwide audience.
David Marx: Book Reviews / Jochen Markhorst
01-21-2025
David Marx reviews Jochen Markhorst's Bob Dylan's 1971 on a Wordpress blog on Jan 21, 2025.
In a 2021 Music Musings & Such feature, the writer explores Bob Dylan's 1980s albums and their mixed critical reception and subsequent reassessment.
On 2022-05-26, a reviewer evaluated Dylan At 80, an edited essay collection by Gary Browning and Constantine Sandis, on a book review blog in the USA.
A blog post on Oreate AI reevaluates Bob Dylan’s 1980s albums and live releases, highlighting twenty underrated tracks from the decade.
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A 1979 Santa Monica recording from Bob Dylan’s Gospel Tour showcases Slow Train Coming material and expanded live arrangements.
Paul Elie's The Last Supper is analyzed in an op-ed for its crypto religious lens on 1980s American art and controversy.
The needsomefun.net article lists ten Bob Dylan songs about faith, ranging from 1967 to 1997, with notes on each track's spiritual theme and period.
Greg Laurie discusses Dylan's faith in the book Lennon, Dylan, Alice, and Jesus with The Christian Post.
Bob Dylan's 1980s output is reviewed in a Discogs feature, focusing on Springtime in New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985) and related gospel-era albums.
Charles Caramello reviews Bob Dylan: Things Have Changed by Ron Rosenbaum for the Washington Independent Review of Books.
Bob Dylan released Street-Legal in 1978, recorded in four days between early legs of Dylan's 1978 world tour in the USA, featuring gospel backing vocals and expanded R&B arrangements.
Bob Dylan's late 1970s Christian conversion and the release of Slow Train Coming sparked controversy.
Bob Dylan released Slow Train Coming in 1979 in the United States to a controversial, gospel-influenced reception.
In the eighth Dylan Cover Songs International Style installment, gospel artists interpret Dylan's 1979–1981 Christian period songs.
Bob Dylan embraced evangelical Christianity in the late 1970s after discipleship training and issued gospel albums including Slow Train Coming (1979) before returning to secular music with Infidels.