woostify domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/latestwordpress/lonestar.a1professionals.net_public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131Trains, Jesus, and Murder: The Gospel According to Johnny Cash<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Richard Beck, a psychology professor at Abilene Christian University, leads a Bible study at a maximum-security prison on Monday nights. That\u2019s how he found himself drawn to the theology of legendary country music star Johnny Cash\u2019s songs.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now he has written a book about it, <\/span>Trains, Jesus, and Murder: The Gospel According to Johnny Cash<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/a> (Fortress Press, $18.99 paperback). \u201cSaints and sinners all jumbled together,\u201d Beck writes. \u201cThat\u2019s the genius of Johnny Cash, and that\u2019s what the gospel is all about.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe music of the Man in Black,\u201d he adds, \u201cgives people the power to comprehend just how deep and wide is God\u2019s love for them.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Beck divides the book into four sections \u2014 Family and Faith; Sinners and Solidarity; Nation and Nostalgia; Suffering and Salvation \u2014 and each chapter takes its theme from the title of one of Cash\u2019s songs. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A chapter headed \u201cI Walk the Line\u201d deals with Cash\u2019s failure to be faithful to his wife and family and to God, and how he became addicted to amphetamines and was on the brink of suicide. Yet, Beck writes, \u201cin the pit of hell, grace found Johnny Cash.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe gospel,\u201d says Beck, \u201cisn\u2019t about our faithfulness to God; it\u2019s about God\u2019s faithfulness to us.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The sad song \u201cGive My Love to Rose\u201d headlines a chapter that is essentially about acts of kindness, about caring personally for \u201cthe outcast, the downtrodden, and the broken.\u201d Quite a number of other Cash songs showed his solidarity with the oppressed, including \u201cFolsom Prison Blues,\u201d \u201cSan Quentin,\u201d \u201cThe Man in Black,\u201d and \u201cThe Ballad of Ira Hayes.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cGod\u2019s preferential concern for the poor and oppressed,\u201d Beck writes, \u201cruns through the whole of scripture.\u201d And through Johnny Cash\u2019s music as well.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n On a personal note, I met Johnny Cash in 1965 at an unauthorized concert in Bryan. His scheduled concert at Texas A&M was cancelled by President Earl Rudder after Cash was arrested for illegal possession of pills in El Paso. I was editor of The Battalion<\/em>, the A&M student newspaper, and played a role in bringing him to an off-campus nightclub despite the administration\u2019s objections. The Statler Brothers opened, and Cash dedicated a song, \u201cDirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog,\u201d to Rudder. I was invited to his trailer after the concert, and I\u2019m pretty sure he was high on something. But I have been a fan ever since. See Rob Clark\u2019s book <\/span>Live from Aggieland<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/a> for the complete story.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Beck\u2019s book on Johnny Cash is one of several titles published this year dealing with popular music icons, including these with Texas roots: <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Janis: Her Life and Music<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/a> about Janis Joplin, by Holly George-Warren (Simon & Schuster, 400 pages, $28.99 hardcover).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n