This my attempt to sketch out a/my career in biblical studies via 14 Bob Dylan Songs.

The selection may seem a bit cynical at times, but for me some of these songs really have been a source of strength along the way.

Still, you may want to balance this sketch with my more constructive Roadmap for Aspiring New Testament scholars!

For ease of reference all songs are taken from “The Essential Bob Dylan” (see here)

1. On not losing the best of one’s beginnings

Forever Young (for full lyrics, see here)

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young

2. On (re)reading the primary sources

Mr. Tambourine Man (for full lyrics, see here)

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you

3. On trying to find your niche

Subterranean Homesick Blues (for full lyrics, see here)

Ah get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don’t steal, don’t lift
Twenty years of schoolin’
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a manhole
Light yourself a candle
Don’t wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don’t wanna be a bum
You better chew gum
The pump don’t work
’Cause the vandals took the handles

4. On trying to get into a PhD program

It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (for full lyrics, see here)

The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense
Take what you have gathered from coincidence
The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets
This sky, too, is folding under you
And it’s all over now, Baby Blue

5. On being ignored (or ignoring people) at conferences

Positively 4th Street (for full lyrics, see here)

You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down
You just stood there grinning

You got a lotta nerve
To say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on
The side that’s winning

6. On trying to publish one’s research

Rainy Day Woman # 12 & 35 (for full lyrics, see here)

They’ll stone ya when you’re at the breakfast table
They’ll stone ya when you are young and able
They’ll stone ya when you’re tryin’ to make a buck
They’ll stone ya and then they’ll say, “good luck”
Tell ya what, I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned

7. On (trying to finish) the PhD

Maggie’s Farm (for full Lyrics, see here)

I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more
No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more
Well, he hands you a nickel
He hands you a dime
He asks you with a grin
If you’re havin’ a good time
Then he fines you every time you slam the door
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more

8. On realizing your PhD might not land you a job

Like a Rolling Stone (for complete lyrics, see here)

Ain’t it hard when you discover that
He really wasn’t where it’s at
After he took from you everything he could steal

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

9. On the unrelenting pressure to publish (what others say is important)

It Ain’t Me, Babe (for complete lyrics, see here).

Go melt back into the night, babe
Everything inside is made of stone
There’s nothing in here moving
An’ anyway I’m not alone
You say you’re lookin’ for someone
Who’ll pick you up each time you fall
To gather flowers constantly
An’ to come each time you call
A lover for your life an’ nothing more
But it ain’t me, babe
No, no, no, it ain’t me, babe
It ain’t me you’re lookin’ for, babe

10. On (contemplating the possibility of) not making tenure

Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright (for full lyrics, see here)

I’m walkin’ down that long, lonesome road, babe
Where I’m bound, I can’t tell
But goodbye’s too good a word, gal
So I’ll just say fare thee well
I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind
You could have done better but I don’t mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don’t think twice, it’s all right

11. On (contemplating the possibility of) making tenure

Quin the Eskimo  (The Mighty Quinn) (for full lyrics, see here)

Ev’rybody’s building the big ships and the boats
Some are building monuments
Others, jotting down notes
Ev’rybody’s in despair
Ev’ry girl and boy
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here
Ev’rybody’s gonna jump for joy
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn

12. On trying to interpret the Bible for one’s time

The Times they Are a Changin’ (for full lyrics, see here)

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

13. On realizing that “every decent theology was, is, and will be a theology of liberation” (E. Käsemann).

Blowin’ in The Wind (for full lyrics, see here)

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ’n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ’n’ how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

14. On remembering one’s teachers and mentors

If Not For You (for full lyrics, see here)

If not for you
Winter would have no spring
Couldn’t hear the robin sing
I just wouldn’t have a clue
Anyway it wouldn’t ring true
If not for you