CHURCH OF OPRAH

In his Serious Times Web site, James Emery White (a Preaching Magazine contributing editor) talks about the latest wave of Oprah influence: as America’s spiritual guide. Here is what he wrote.? Interesting stuff.

“Much of her guidance is deeply Christian and highly commendable, pulling from her Baptist upbringing. In her book, The Gospel According to Oprah, Marcia Nelson outlines some of the commendable aspects of Oprah’s spirituality, including the themes of forgiveness and generosity, self-examination, gratitude and community.

“But there’s more to her spirituality than a few broad, generic Christian themes. It increasingly reflects currents of thought embodied by such authors as Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, and most recently, Eckhart Tolle (pronounced ‘toe-lee’), whose latest book, A New Earth, has seen nearly 5 million shipped with the Oprah seal on the front thanks to a series of 10 ‘live’ Monday night Web seminars, which began on March 3 featuring Tolle and Winfrey on Oprah’s website. So popular were the webcasts the first night brought down the server when more than 500,000 people tried to log on. Now, nearly 2 million have downloaded or streamed the first class. So what are people learning?

“As Tolle writes in the foreword to his book, Stillness Speaks, his thinking ‘can be seen as a revival for the present age of the oldest form of recorded spiritual teaching: the sutras of ancient India.’

“Translation? Hinduism. Or as he packages it, an eclectic gathering of gleanings from Hinduism, Buddhism and watered-down Christianity. Result? A fresh presentation of what is commonly called the New Age Movement, which tends to have four basic ideas: Read more