If I Were Christian, I Would Be The Bob Dylan Kind

Sean Wilentz – No, the thing I was stupid about was precisely the religious songs. It took me a long time.

Christopher Ricks  – Is that right?

Sean Wilentz – Absolutely. When Slow Train Coming came out, “Gotta Serve Somebody” is a good song, but I couldn’t get the rest of it.

By the time he got into Saved, and I couldn’t even do Shot Of Love.

I look back on that and I’m shocked. I’m shocked at how stupid I was, because those are wonderful, wonderful records.

Christopher Ricks – Yeah, they are.

Sean Wilentz – I don’t know if they’d be … If I ever were a Christian, I’d want to be that kind of Christian.

Christopher Ricks – Yes, I think it’s a pity that (T.S.) Eliot made it one tradition, you see; tradition and the individual talent is one of each.  I yield to nobody in my admiration and love of Eliot, not even to you, but I think there is something in Eliot that comes for the singular all the time, and the jugular.

Dylan, it’s more, it’s very magnanimous. Dylan is astonishingly magnanimous, I think.

No, it isn’t an irreligious or anti-religious; I don’t think it has the depth of the real religious songs, earlier, Hebrew Bible.  It doesn’t have the fierceness of “God Said to Abraham, Kill Me a Son”. That’s taking religion seriously, isn’t it, through blasphemy.

No, it’s going back to Highway 61, just there. I think he’s always understood that great religious art has to be accusable of blasphemy. If the accusation sticks, it’s not the greatest religious art. If the accusation doesn’t arise, then you were playing safe, and you were a hypocrite.

He’s always understood that erotic art can be accused of being soft porn, or even hard porn. He’s always understood, I think the terrific risk that you’re obliged.

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