I apologize that the comments were turned off on this post this morning … not sure how that happened, but it did.
On the plane yesterday the man sitting with us told us he was “raised Jewish” but that he went to a college where he had to take some Christianity, so he’s got some Christianity in him, and then he said it’s all rolled up into an overriding Zen Buddhism. There you have it: New Agers make up their own religion. True or not?
In their new book, Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Stories That Shape Our Lives
, Steve Wilkens and Mark Sanford examine cultural scripts that work against the gospel work in the Church.
, Steve Wilkens and Mark Sanford examine cultural scripts that work against the gospel work in the Church.
Our theme today: new age.
Motto: “Are we gods or God’s?”
I’ll be honest, this theme doesn’t interest me. I don’t find New Age stuff even interesting … but this chapter got me interested. Basically it argues humans need to find their inner divinity, God-consciousness or Higher Self. Knowledge of the inner dimension is salvation — it has an undeniable gnostic strain. It is monistic — unity of material an
So what do we learn:
1. An emphasis on the spiritual dimension of life.
2. Reveals some common problems with institutional religion.
3. Questions Enlightenment’s rationality as the gatekeeper.
But they see fundamental problems in:
1. Flip flopping from materialism to spirit — a bit like transcendentalism.
2. Self-salvation.
3. It can’t justify its larger social agenda.
4. Tends to the irrational.
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