26: Bob Dylan Goes Electric with Kathryn Lofton

We are going electric with Bob Dylan and  Professor Kathryn Lofton.  Few pop culture moments have been analyzed more closely than Bob Dylan "going electric" at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. We ask what is all means for American religion, race, and music with our special guest, Kathryn Lofton. Kathryn is the Lex Hixon Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies, Professor of History and Divinity, and FAS Dean of Humanities at Yale University. She has written extensively about capitalism, popular culture, and the secular, from her first book, Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon (2011) to the book Consuming Religion (2017), parsing the  relationship between religion and consumer capitalism from the Kardashian family to  Goldman Sachs. Her article on Dylan going electric in the Journal of Popular Music Studies knocked us off our feet. Enjoy this wide-ranging conversation about some of our most favorite topics in rock music, the life of the spirit, and more.  Check out the book About Man and God and Law: The Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan wherever fine books are sold, and learn about related projects at mangodlaw.com. We are proud to be part of the Pantheon Podcasts Network.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices