Religious postmodernism in popular culture
God’s not dead, he just smells funny
, God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son" Abe say, "Man, you must be puttin' me on" God say. "No,
" Abe say, "What?"God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but next time you see me comin',
you better run" Abe said, "Where do you want this killin' done?" God said, "Out on Highway
61".
Mack the Finger said to Louie the King "I got forty red, white and blue shoe strings and a
thousand telephones that don't ring do you know where I can get rid of these things?" Louie the
King said, "Let me think for a minute, son" and he said, "Yes, I think it can be easily done just
take it on down to Highway 61"
- Bob Dylan on Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
Introduction
A significant number of people celebrate Bob Dylan's artistic work for its religious imagery and
sentiments (Kvaalvaag & Winje 2019, 7). This even though Dylan was often critical of the
appearance, value and meaning of religion. You could easily argue that his view on religion has a
rather negative connotation in the cited lyrics above, because he strips religion of its transcendent
quality by reducing the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham down to a mundane everyday struggle
equal to the problem of Mack the Finger. On the other hand, Dylan is remarkably less critical
and more embracing of religion during his so-called Christian era (1979-1981).
Klassen (2014, 23) claims that religion is inextricably linked to popular media and society in
general, and argues that a true secularization of society is not in sight. This is an interesting
starting point when looking at the unsecularised nature of certain modern societies and how
religion still plays an important role in these supposedly secular societies. For example, the cult
of Santa Muerte shows how the ancient religion of Christianity has modern implications that are
1
God’s not dead, he just smells funny
, God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son" Abe say, "Man, you must be puttin' me on" God say. "No,
" Abe say, "What?"God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but next time you see me comin',
you better run" Abe said, "Where do you want this killin' done?" God said, "Out on Highway
61".
Mack the Finger said to Louie the King "I got forty red, white and blue shoe strings and a
thousand telephones that don't ring do you know where I can get rid of these things?" Louie the
King said, "Let me think for a minute, son" and he said, "Yes, I think it can be easily done just
take it on down to Highway 61"
- Bob Dylan on Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
Introduction
A significant number of people celebrate Bob Dylan's artistic work for its religious imagery and
sentiments (Kvaalvaag & Winje 2019, 7). This even though Dylan was often critical of the
appearance, value and meaning of religion. You could easily argue that his view on religion has a
rather negative connotation in the cited lyrics above, because he strips religion of its transcendent
quality by reducing the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham down to a mundane everyday struggle
equal to the problem of Mack the Finger. On the other hand, Dylan is remarkably less critical
and more embracing of religion during his so-called Christian era (1979-1981).
Klassen (2014, 23) claims that religion is inextricably linked to popular media and society in
general, and argues that a true secularization of society is not in sight. This is an interesting
starting point when looking at the unsecularised nature of certain modern societies and how
religion still plays an important role in these supposedly secular societies. For example, the cult
of Santa Muerte shows how the ancient religion of Christianity has modern implications that are
1
