In relation to this Christian Science Monitor controversy, I was happy to receive an e-mail from Jeffrey Gaskill, the man behind the CD and DVD productions: GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY: THE GOSPEL SONGS OF BOB DYLAN (links at bottom).

He pointed out that the WORLD magazine article (where the CSM writer mistakenly pulled the Wexler quote from, attributing it to Dylan) has errors of its own. He sent a copy of a letter to the editor which he sent to that publication:

Regarding Arsenio Orteza’s article “Like a rolling stone” discussing Bob Dylan and religion, Orteza states that “Rolling Thunder and the Gospel Years” “is the only project of its kind to explore the years during which Dylan was scandalizing the pop-culture world with recordings and performances that proclaimed Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation.” This is not correct.

“Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan” (Image Entertainment 2006) premieres footage of Bob Dylan performing from a 1980 all-gospel concert and explores Mr. Dylan’s Christian body of work with more than a dozen performances of his gospel music from such artists as Shirley Caesar, Aaron Neville, The Fairfield Four, Sounds of Blackness, and the Chicago Mass Choir from the twice Grammy nominated album of the same name. Mr. Dylan contributed a duet recording with Mavis Staples of an updated”Gonna Change My Way of Thinking” to the album and received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with vocals .

The “Gotta Serve Somebody” documentary won Gold Medal for Excellence Audience Choice for Best Music Documentary at the 2006 Park City Film Music Festival and includes commentary by Paul Williams and Alan Light as well as Dylan musicians Jim Keltner, Spooner Oldham, Regina McCrary, Fred Tackett, Terry Young, Mona Lisa Young, and producer Jerry Wexler. Additionally, the uncredited Baron Wolman photograph that accompanied your article may be found in “Gotta Serve Somebody” not “Rolling Thunder.”

Also, exchanging thoughts with Jeffrey regarding this subject at a very general level, he forwarded a link to an extremely interesting article by Ruth Rosen, which is on the “Jews for Jesus” website. It’s not about Dylan, as such, but I recommend reading it in full — I think it sheds a lot of light on related topics, and in particular on why so many sparks fly when this subject comes up.

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Not unrelated, also, is this letter published in Christianity Today in 2001, by Ronnie Keohane, which just came to my attention:

In Steve Turner’s review of Howard Sounes’s unauthorized biography of Bob Dylan ["Watered-Down Love," May 21], nowhere does Turner acknowledge the cross that Dylan has borne for his belief in Jesus.

Dylan boldly proclaimed the gospel for the simple reason that he knew people looked to him to speak and sing about what is truth. Dylan wrote that he could continue on and keep his faith to himself, but it wasn’t his purpose to gain the admiration of the world and lose his soul.

The effort to have Dylan renounce Jesus over the last 20 years has come up empty. For his faithfulness he has received scorn from the media, fans, record-company executives, friends, the Jewish/church communities and family members.

Clearly, there have been rocky times in Dylan’s spiritual journey, but Dylan’s “light” for Jesus is not the flickering flame that Turner would have us believe, but rather an eternal flame. The simple fact that it exists can be credited to the eternal security that acceptance of God’s grace brings, and it is the one true relationship that sustains Dylan each day.

Dylan now takes the stage before a mostly nonseeking audience and confounds them with the fact that this “Jesus” still has a hold of his heart. Dylan is perfectly willing to be seen as one who has been broken, shattered like an empty cup, and who is waiting for the Lord to rebuild him.

I can only imagine the Lord looking upon Bob Dylan and saying, “If this is watered-down love, then give me more, more, more … “

Preach on, my sister!

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Below are links to the CD and DVD productions: GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY: THE GOSPEL SONGS OF BOB DYLAN, which came out in 2003 and 2005, respectively. Both projects obviously received cooperation from Bob. He duets with the great Mavis Staples on the CD. Footage of him performing When He Returns live in 1980 appears on the DVD. Both also include great performances of his gospel songs by stars including Aaron Neville, Rance Allen and Shirley Caesar. Great stuff.

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