WITH THE ADVENT of "Slow Train Coming" nearly three years ago, Bob Dylan was relegated to the "Religious Recordings" section of many record shops. The subsequent apparition of "Saved" only served to confirm that the writer of "Like a Rolling Stone"-a six-minute single that said everything that needed to be said about the social revolution of the '60s-had become an overzealous Christian. Perhaps this explains why few took notice when Dylan's latest effort, "Shot of Love", materialized in August. And that's a shame, because the former Mr. Zimmerman has given us a valuable, if somewhat uneven, new piece for an ever-expanding puzzle.

The first two songs on side one are both solid and pleasing, though not earth shaking. The title track, an up-tempo soul number, is reminiscent of "Street Legal", Dylan's last widely popular work. It blends a bassy rhythm with gospel-like backing vocals very effectively. "Heart of Mine", which follows, is a pretty, piano-based tune with a calypso beat that lends it a tropical flavor. A subtle relationship seems to exist between the two songs. Both deal with love: the first viewing it as a necessary drug and the second warning of excess.

"Property of Jesus" is the most overtly religious track on the album. It is also fascinating and passionate, and like most good Dylan, multi-level. At first we seem to be hearing an ode to the unashamed believers who preach their love for Jesus, and an attack on atheists:

He's the property of Jesus

Resent him to the bone

You've got something better

You've got a heart of stone

He's the property of Jesus

Resent him to the bone

You've got something better

You've got a heart of stone

Sung powerfully over the repetitive picking of a trebly guitar, "Property of Jesus" might easily be dismissed as more divine drivel. Yet the autobiographical content of the piece is striking and poignant. It cannot leave one neutral:

Say that he's a lower

Cause he got no common sense

Because he don't increase his wealth