Talk to God and Listen to the Casual Reply: Experiencing the Spirituality of John Denver

He was born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., on December 31, 1943, in Roswell, New Mexico. The general public knows him better as John Denver, trained architect, international performer, a man who sings about his experiences of living, and, in doing so, reveals his spirituality. On October 12, 1997, at the age of fifty-three, Denver died in Monterey Bay, California, in a solo airplane crash. Through the lyrics of his songs on more than sixty albums, Denver reveals his spirituality, that invisible force that motivates or inspires his personal spirit and gives insight and meaning to what he did and why he did it. This book is designed to guide the reader through an analysis of John Denver’s spirituality, as it is gleaned and categorized according to major and minor themes that emerge from the lyrics of his songs. The reader is invited to experience Denver’s spirituality through a reflection section at the end of each chapter.

Mark G. Boyer--well-known author and college instructor--has been writing books on biblical and liturgical spirituality for thirty years. He has written fifty-four spirituality-focused volumes--including a previous book on John Denver--which prompt the reader to recognize the divine in everyday life. Boyer has taught courses in Bible and film at Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri, for almost thirty years. This is his fourteenth Wipf and Stock title.