Speaking Words of Wisdom

“Formal religion and personal spirituality are often overlooked in the story of rock, but as this fascinating book shows, both played a vital role. The Beatles are the perfect case study.” —Steve Turner,author of Hungry for Heaven: Rock ’n’ Roll and the Search for Redemption and The Gospel According to the Beatles “This volume’s authors present, with a wide variety of backgrounds, a very high level of research and insight into the Beatles’ collective and individual faiths, beliefs, ethic, questioning of dogma, and their reception, all in a beautifully organized context molded by generations of their families’ religious upbringings and the crises that institutional religion faced in the mid-twentieth century. The Beatles’ core gospel of sharing love and the search for truth is considered here as never before.” —Walter Everett,author of The Beatles as Musicians “The Beatles’ core gospel of sharing love and the search for truth is considered here as never before.” —Walter Everett,author of The Beatles as Musicians “Musical creativity is, as Paul McCartney says, magical. One might say miraculous. Given that the Beatles wrestled in their musical messages, activities, and public pronouncements with the nature of spirituality, both religious and secular—and that they themselves inspired widespread idolatry—this book becomes a highly important and fascinating project. This volume’s authors present, with a wide variety of backgrounds, a very high level of research and insight into the Beatles’ collective and individual faiths, beliefs, ethic, questioning of dogma, and their reception, all in a beautifully organized context molded by generations of their families’ religious upbringings and the crises that institutional religion faced in the mid-twentieth century. The Beatles’ core gospel of sharing love and the search for truth is considered here as never before.” —Walter Everett,author of The Beatles as Musicians