Wilentz will quickly tell you that he himself is an atheist, as both he and Christopher Ricks are anxious to point out their atheism in the following discussion: Move the slider quickly in the following link to: 22:45-24:35. Here they both say they are "almost persuaded to become a Christian" by some of Dylan's songs, but they remain atheists....they do have to keep their day jobs in academia after all.
http://philoctetes.org/Past_Programs/The_Inventions_of_Bob_Dylan (22:45-24:35)
So that is what makes Wilentz's testimony to Colbert -- that Dylan was converted to Christianity, and remains, a Christian -- so valuable. He tells Colbert to listen to the songs.....as Dylan himself says...."it is all in the songs."
So here we have a Princeton historian, a very knowledgable expert on the subject of Bob Dylan because he just completed a full length book on the subject, answering once and for all the question... "Is Bob Dylan still a Christian?"
With with testimony of these expert witnesses....I rest my case.
One more thought comes to mind here. Sean Wilentz is described on the BobDylan.com Web Site as the "historian-in-residence." I don’t know what that means, but it does lend some official credence to his access to the artist and his archives. But Wilentz is quick to say, that he “doesn’t talk about his meetings with the artist himself.” In other words, there are meetings. So if this atheistic historian, with no axe to grind, is so adamant to answer Colbert’s questions about Dylan’s continuing Christianity affirmatively, this must be given some very serious weight. If Wilentz, one of the nation’s most prominent historians, is wrong about Dylan still being a Christian that would be a pretty big blunder and Wilentz ought to be removed from his position as "historian-in-residence."
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