tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post3879661010169876479..comments2024-03-21T00:34:35.359-07:00Comments on Every Bob Dylan Song: Bob Dylan Song #110: I Am A Lonesome HoboTonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12613923038816299394noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-24227848415601248782017-01-18T21:59:45.540-08:002017-01-18T21:59:45.540-08:00Hi, thanks for posting this fine analysis, Read en...Hi, thanks for posting this fine analysis, Read enough? Then join us inside Bob Dylan's Music Box http://thebobdylanproject.com/Song/id/261/I-Am-a-Lonesome-Hobo and listen to all the great versions.Music of Bob Dylanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12468786844352673128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-78762420634673217072009-06-15T07:42:02.746-07:002009-06-15T07:42:02.746-07:00Dear Reinaldo,
First of all, I sincerely apologiz...Dear Reinaldo,<br /><br />First of all, I sincerely apologize for hurting your feelings. I know that you are a loyal reader, and I do appreciate that you read my work closely enough to have this kind of visceral reaction (negative though it might be). In the hope of keeping an honest debate, especially given this can of worms I appear to have inadvertantly opened, I'd like to address a few of your points.<br /><br />It is a plain fact that it was the poorer classes of Christianity that helped raise what was once a small Jewish sect to become the largest religion in the Western world. Jesus Christ died around 30 AD, and the religion became the official religion of the Roman empire around 380 AD - that's a long time. Remember, pagan religion was still the norm in that area of the world; Jupiter, Pluto, et. al. Given that we can both probably agree that the less fortunate classes far outnumbered the richer classes (as has been true all throughout history), I would say the only way this kind of transformation could occur would be through the religion spreading through those lower classes. Constantine gave it a boost, to be sure, but even that was over 100 years after the religion truly gained legs.<br /><br />And I certainly don't think that people were taken in by some huckster talking about salvation and blessed are the peacemakers and so on; nobody knows, after all, what the afterlife really entails, and I confess that I lean more towards the idea of a God and an afterlife than towards atheism (although I do not observe any organized religion). But look - would you argue that the idea of Christanity is that mankind is not meant to immerse themselves in filthy lucre and earthly rewards, but to work hard and be kind and strive for the Kingdom of God? I'm reasonably sure that is a main tenet of Jesus' preaching. And from what I understand about ancient civilizations, the vast majority of people lived in <i>utter squalor</i>. You don't think the message Jesus was preaching wouldn't catch on quick with that sector of the population? It wasn't catching on with the rich humps eating grapes and screwing in the Coliseum, that's for sure.<br /><br />Re: Dylan and Christianity - look, we believe we know what kind of cat Dylan was, but there's only so much we actually know when it comes down to it. We'll never know for sure how much he struggled with his Jewish heritage, if he still considers himself a Christian today, why he started reading the Bible in the first place (IIRC, he seemed knowledgable even before <i>John Wesley Harding</i>), and so on. The Bible is a work of great historical import, as well as religious - given that Dylan has always been a voracious student of history, he could very well have been reading the book for that end as well as to edify himself spiritually. What I have no doubt about is that he was fully committed when he converted in 1979 - you'd have to be, to face those audiences like the ones he faced in Tempe on his first gospel tour.<br /><br />And you have to believe me when I say that I do not consider Christians gullible losers in the least. Both my mother and my best friend's mother are devout practicioners, and they are both extremely kind and charitable human beings. I don't have anything at all against the Christian faith.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12613923038816299394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448601238585270507.post-7377250653288659792009-06-15T07:08:01.224-07:002009-06-15T07:08:01.224-07:00You wrote, parenthetically: "(after all, the ...You wrote, parenthetically: "(after all, the Christian religion caught on amongst the less fortunate of ancient times, mainly because it promised a reward beyond earthliness that far exceeded anything those poor souls were getting in their living days)". On what do you base this assertion? Have you interviewed "the less fortunate of ancient times"? Of course not. Did it ever enter your mind that perhaps these people accepted Christ because they believed, without qualifiers, that he was telling the truth about himself? You commit the typical postmodern hipster pundit's error of condescending to history, and to religion. Moreover, given your adulation of Dylan, and your focus on the context in which his songs were written, and given the fact he had an open Bible on a stand where he wrote his songs, and given he himself later accepted Christ, your presumptuousness is all the more absurd. I write this from the perspective of a Dylan fan who reads your every word, not from some Bible-thumping pulpit. I'm just weary of the usual depiction of Christians as gullible losers. I know a lot of brilliant intellectuals who call themselves Christians. Finally, you asked if any of your readers have lived a life on the rails, eating out of tin cans. Well, I have.Reinaldo Garcianoreply@blogger.com