The reason I balked at the prefix "quasi" is because you were talking about his early recordings.   I might be wrong, but "quasi" sounds wishy-washy to me. You said that he developed "from a dreamy, quasi-Christian poet/songwriter" and since you mean before Stealing Fire, then you must mean before 1984.

The first time I talked with him was a long time ago, at an after-concert party put on by a group of university Christians, after one of his concerts. It was probably 1978 or 79, I'm not sure. I remember talking to him about Scripture references in one of his songs in particular, about what it was like to be a Christian in a travelling band, about lifestyle issues, about worship, about Christian unity with other believers....you know I'm not going to try to quote what he said about those things. That wouldn't be right. There is so much in print already. But the songs with obvious Christian symbolism or reference - All the Diamonds and Creation Dream, Dialogue with the Devil and What About the Bond? for example (there are many more) came out of a solid faith experience, something actually pretty deeply-rooted. He wasn't flitting with Christianity. It was neither a fad or a quick fix.

No, Bruce isn't mainstream Christian. He never was. But he challenged so many of us to think harder, and to dig deeper inside and outside of ourselves, and to act on our beliefs in loving socially constructive ways.

~b.w.