By the way, I haven't seen if anyone's picked up Bob's reference in "Thunder on the Mountain" to St. Herman's. The official lyrics have this: "I'll recruit my army from the orphanages /
I been to St. Herman's church and I've said my religious vows." Anyway, the St. Herman of Alaska monastery is located in the Yolla Bolly wilderness near Platina, California, as I recall from reading a thick and fascinating book, Not of This World, about a skete set up by two men who wanted to devote themselves to Russian Orthodoxy and to translate and transmit rare texts. Naturally when I heard Bob sing I wondered if by chance he had slipped up to the monastery or at least had read about it. These guys would not have embarrassed Bob by fawning all over him.
Great reference, thanks. I’ve always loved that line but I’d never researched St. Herman’s. Hard to say whether Bob has been there—very possible, he does get around—or whether he has just read the same book! I sure would love to see his library; it seems like he’s read everything, from the classics to the most obscure.
If Bob ever slips in a reference to Uncreated Light, I think we will be able to figure he's had a look at Eastern Orthodoxy. For now, I can't keep wondering about "St. Herman's church." There is a Roman Catholic Saint Herman Joseph. But I wonder if Bob wasn't thinking of St. Herman of Alaska, and maybe his remote hermitage on Spruce Island, and the Brotherhood named for him in northern California. We might never know.
"Articles of Faith" need not be an allusion to Mormonism. Surely this is a common expression among Christian denominations. My own milieu, Confessional Lutheranism, places a great deal of emphasis on Articles of Faith.
What I know about Mormonism could fit in a thimble, I was just going on one of Smith’s “articles,” which affirms the Bible as the word of God, along with the Book of Mormon. Thanks again for your perspective.
I appreciate your thoughts, Dale. That’s interesting and I hadn’t realized that the term might be used by other denominations. Still, I think Dylan is referring to Smith as a comment on prophets, true and false, as I lay out in the article. But you know, I’m just telling one story, and there might be others …
Who knows, with Bob? But the immediately preceding clause is "Thump on the Bible," which doesn't nudge the listener in a Mormon direction. Mormon doctrine holds that the Bible is a text corrupted by the early Christian church. If Bob wanted to nudge listeners Mormonward, he could allude to the Book of Mormon or The Doctrine and Covenants. But, like I said, who knows with Bob!
Fascinating read on the Josph Smith connection. The way Dylan layers religious texts with current political commentary is really something. I stumbled across the "Goodbye Jimmy Reed" verse a while back and that "proclaim the creed" line stuck with me, but never connected it to the Mormon articles unitl now. The "air inside the room" bit is painfully on point too.
By the way, I haven't seen if anyone's picked up Bob's reference in "Thunder on the Mountain" to St. Herman's. The official lyrics have this: "I'll recruit my army from the orphanages /
I been to St. Herman's church and I've said my religious vows." Anyway, the St. Herman of Alaska monastery is located in the Yolla Bolly wilderness near Platina, California, as I recall from reading a thick and fascinating book, Not of This World, about a skete set up by two men who wanted to devote themselves to Russian Orthodoxy and to translate and transmit rare texts. Naturally when I heard Bob sing I wondered if by chance he had slipped up to the monastery or at least had read about it. These guys would not have embarrassed Bob by fawning all over him.
Great reference, thanks. I’ve always loved that line but I’d never researched St. Herman’s. Hard to say whether Bob has been there—very possible, he does get around—or whether he has just read the same book! I sure would love to see his library; it seems like he’s read everything, from the classics to the most obscure.
If Bob ever slips in a reference to Uncreated Light, I think we will be able to figure he's had a look at Eastern Orthodoxy. For now, I can't keep wondering about "St. Herman's church." There is a Roman Catholic Saint Herman Joseph. But I wonder if Bob wasn't thinking of St. Herman of Alaska, and maybe his remote hermitage on Spruce Island, and the Brotherhood named for him in northern California. We might never know.
"Articles of Faith" need not be an allusion to Mormonism. Surely this is a common expression among Christian denominations. My own milieu, Confessional Lutheranism, places a great deal of emphasis on Articles of Faith.
What I know about Mormonism could fit in a thimble, I was just going on one of Smith’s “articles,” which affirms the Bible as the word of God, along with the Book of Mormon. Thanks again for your perspective.
I appreciate your thoughts, Dale. That’s interesting and I hadn’t realized that the term might be used by other denominations. Still, I think Dylan is referring to Smith as a comment on prophets, true and false, as I lay out in the article. But you know, I’m just telling one story, and there might be others …
Who knows, with Bob? But the immediately preceding clause is "Thump on the Bible," which doesn't nudge the listener in a Mormon direction. Mormon doctrine holds that the Bible is a text corrupted by the early Christian church. If Bob wanted to nudge listeners Mormonward, he could allude to the Book of Mormon or The Doctrine and Covenants. But, like I said, who knows with Bob!
Fascinating read on the Josph Smith connection. The way Dylan layers religious texts with current political commentary is really something. I stumbled across the "Goodbye Jimmy Reed" verse a while back and that "proclaim the creed" line stuck with me, but never connected it to the Mormon articles unitl now. The "air inside the room" bit is painfully on point too.