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Rating: 
Summary: Strange brew,doesn't mix
Review: Bob Dylan seems to be one of those artists who are like a mirror. You see what reflection you wish to portray. Having read Jonathon Cotts Dylan,where Dylan is a great poet,Stephen Pickerings Dylan, where he is a wandering Hebrew prophet,I decided on this book. Well, the theology here is an odd mix of fundementalism and Hebrew-christian potpurri. Hey, you can take Dylan songs to justify union busting{union sundown],though I hardly think that is the intention. Ignoring the vast corpus of Dyans work to justify this is simply cheap.Dr. Fruchtenbaum may or may not be a good theologian. Howwever, this book is about HIM, not bob dylan. I was very,very disappointed at the questioanble theological viewpoint and the tedious pedantic postruing and lecturing. Thomas Merton near the end of his life was preparing a study of Bob Dylan. Now THAT would have been interesting and fruitful. This is not.
Rating: 
Summary: This one is an excellent choice!
Review: I very much enjoyed this book. In it, the author captures well the relationship between the words of Bob Dylan and the writings of the theologian Arnold Fruchtenbaum. Ronnie Keohane does a good job, using this device, of making clear the strong coincidence between the thought of Bob Dylan as expressed in his lyrics and the dispensational system of theology as advocated by Dr. Fruchtenbaum. I think you'll also find this one an interesting read.
Rating:
Summary: Searching for the truth the way God designed it...
Review: Quite a unique effort in the crowded world of Bob Dylan books. To appraise Dylan's work as an artist you'd be impoverished to overlook the influence of the Bible. Dylan himself has said that prior to 1979 he only looked at the Bible as literature. After his 1979 experience and the controversy of his album, Slow Train Coming, Dylan told Robert Hilburn: "I didn't mean to deliver a hammer blow. It might come out that way, but I'm not trying to kill anybody. You can't put people down who don't believe. Anybody can have the answer I have. I mean it's free." Arguably, since then Dylan's viewed his Bible as the ultimate source of truth, and relevant for the day-to-day whatever. In 1986, Dylan told Mikal Gilmore: "I hate to keep beating people over the head with the Bible, but that's the only instrument I know, the only thing that stays true." Keohane's message, via these two Jewish men--Bob Dylan and Arnold Fruchtenbaum--is in the same vein. I had never heard of Fruchtenbaum so it's interesting to get his unique perspective, and clearly, as Keohane laboriously articulates, there are parallels between his words and Dylan's words (Dylan's lyrics and interviews). Certainly I'll be referring to this book in the future as it captures something curiously absent from the overwhelming majority of Dylan books--the notion that God not only exists but His hand is seen in history and in very personal contemporary stories of redemption. A line from authors Davin Seay and Mary Neely just popped into my head so I'll conclude with this which I think may capture what Keohane is getting at: "Bob Dylan knows how to call from the deep and catch the answering echoes. He knows that justice and mercy embrace, that loving kindness endures. He knows that truth and righteousness are good gifts from the Father of Lights, and he knows the uncomprehending darkness of man. He's always known these things and he probably always will. But what makes Dylan different--a poet, a genius, the apple of God's eye--is not the knowing but the telling. It's the telling we remember even more than the man, a curious creature of lights and shadows indistinct in the glare of his legend."
Rating:
Summary: West of the Jordan, East of the Rock of Gibraltar...
Review: Rich in history and doctrine, this book delineates, perhaps the "best of," both Dylan and Dr. Fruchtenbaum (both of whom I highly esteem). It could be considered a primer for Fruchtenbaum's work in understanding Hebrew Christianity. It should, as well, be considered a major work in showing how this faith pertains to many of Bob Dylan's mysterious lyrics. It will not only enlighten those who read it, but encourage them as well. Ronnie Keohane has put together a wonderful resource for understanding the Jewish basis of Christianity, how Israel and the Gentiles are co-heirs in Christ Jesus, and how Bob Dylan has poetically grafted his faith and music into one.
Rating:
Summary: West of the Jordan, East of the Rock of Gibraltar...
Review: Rich in history and doctrine, this book delineates, perhaps the "best of," both Dylan and Dr. Fruchtenbaum (both of whom I highly esteem). It could be considered a primer for Fruchtenbaum's work in understanding Hebrew Christianity. It should, as well, be considered a major work in showing how this faith pertains to many of Bob Dylan's mysterious lyrics. It will not only enlighten those who read it, but encourage them as well. Ronnie Keohane has put together a wonderful resource for understanding the Jewish basis of Christianity, how Israel and the Gentiles are co-heirs in Christ Jesus, and how Bob Dylan has poetically grafted his faith and music into one.
Rating:
Summary: An original contribution
Review: This book is unique, combining sound-bites from the lyrics of a legendary musician with a more detailed and systematic exposition by one of the most erudite theologians around. The brief but plentiful extracts from Bob Dylan display a consistent Christian faith, and it would be impossible to do him justice without understanding what drives him at the deepest level. The more detailed writings of his fellow Hebrew Christian, Arnold Fruchtenbaum, serve as excellent commentaries, although they were written independently. The author has done a remarkable job in combining them in this way. Of course the systematic theologian has more words in the book, but it's unfair to deny that the book is about Dylan as well, since it's his insights that head each of the many topics studied. It's sad that some people resent the fact that some stars have great faith. I've seen it in my country with the seething resentment of journalists in the secular Australian media when 19-year-old Aaron Baddeley received his Australian Golf Open trophy and publicly declared Jesus as saviour, and that his faith in Christ is crucial to his success.
Rating:
Summary: An original contribution
Review: This book is unique, combining sound-bites from the lyrics of a legendary musician with a more detailed and systematic exposition by one of the most erudite theologians around. The brief but plentiful extracts from Bob Dylan display a consistent Christian faith, and it would be impossible to do him justice without understanding what drives him at the deepest level. The more detailed writings of his fellow Hebrew Christian, Arnold Fruchtenbaum, serve as excellent commentaries, although they were written independently. The author has done a remarkable job in combining them in this way. Of course the systematic theologian has more words in the book, but it's unfair to deny that the book is about Dylan as well, since it's his insights that head each of the many topics studied. It's sad that some people resent the fact that some stars have great faith. I've seen it in my country with the seething resentment of journalists in the secular Australian media when 19-year-old Aaron Baddeley received his Australian Golf Open trophy and publicly declared Jesus as saviour, and that his faith in Christ is crucial to his success.
Rating:
Summary: God's grace poured out on mankind
Review: What a history lesson! I didn't know what to expect. But once I started, I couldn't stop until I read the entire book. Thanks to a special gal for the intense gospel, with heartfelt lyrics; for an introduction to each aspect of God's grace poured out on mankind.
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