The Gospel and the Grateful Dead

This book examines the linkages between the music and message of the Grateful Dead and the Christian gospel. The Grateful Dead emerged from the San Francisco “hippie” scene in the late 1960s, and offered a message of community and divine encounter. While the Dead drew on the teachings of many spiritual traditions, the band’s ethos echoed quite powerfully the wisdom of Christian Scripture. This reflection examines the ways in which the Grateful Dead embodied Christian teachings in areas of community, praise, and service. The Grateful Dead left an enduring legacy, whose power and longevity stem in significant part from the confluence of values between the Gospel and Grateful Dead.