Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 3, 2009, Page 53
Note
[i] Theosophy and Culture: Nicholas Roerich, by Anita Stasulane (2005). Publisher: Interreligious and
Intercultural Investigations Series, Volume 8, 20.
http://home.dejazzd.com/jszimhart/roerichreview.htm
Joe Szimhart
Top Secret: The Truth Behind Today’s Pop Mysticisms
Robert M. Price, Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2008. ISBN-10: 1591026083
ISBN-13: 978-1-59102-608-2 (hardcover), $24.95 ($16.47 Amazon.com). 370
pages.
Top Secret is a facetious title for an ambitious book about a somewhat inscrutable topic.
Robert Price challenges the reader to ride along with him through relatively popular realms
of neo-spirituality—the kind you might experience by watching an Oprah Winfrey program
or a Sunday morning mega-church televangelist. Listed on the book‘s cover are ―The Secret
and New Thought A Course In Miracles and Marianne Williamson The Celestine Prophecy
Joel Osteen‘s Prosperity Gospel Madonna‘s Kabbalah Deepak Chopra [and] Dierdre
Blomfeld-Brown, aka Pema Chödrön.‖ But there is more. Price also includes chapters about
modern Gnostics Carl Jung and Stephan A. Hoeller, Oprah‘s latest favorite guru Eckhart
Tolle, and authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, who wrote The Jesus Mysteries: Was the
“Original Jesus” a Pagan God? Seemingly out of place and for no obvious reason, the author
adds appendixes containing around thirty-five pages about the cult problem,
deprogramming, and how best to understand and relate to cults.
Price has written other books that deconstruct Christian teaching and traditions, but this is
the first title by him that I have read. After finishing this provocative volume, I was curious:
Just who is Robert Price? I found that the author‘s career path alone is a study in
postmodern spirituality. The book jacket tells us that he is a professor of scriptural studies
at Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary (located at the Universal Truth Center in Miami,
Florida). Johnnie Colemon, named after a woman who was a minister of Unity Church in the
1950s but by 1974 established her own branch of New Thought spirituality, states its
mission as ―training of women and men for the ministries of the New Thought Christian
Movement.‖i Today, Robert Price lives in North Carolina with his family, according to
http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/. Price was born in 1954 in Mississippi and
studied Christian apologetics in college while he lived in New Jersey, where he also became
pastor of a Baptist church. By the late 1970s, he had reassessed his faith and adopted a
more liberal, anthropological view in the camps of Paul Tillich and Robert Bultmann. Price
got his Ph.D. in systematic theology from Drew University in 1981. Still, this was not
enough for the intellectually restless Price. I will let the author‘s Website speak for him:
Price soon enrolled in a second doctoral program at Drew, receiving the Ph.D.
in New Testament in 1993. These studies, together with his encounter with
the writings of Don Cupitt, Jacques Derrida, and the New Testament critics of
the Nineteenth Century, rapidly eroded his liberal Christian stance, and Price
resigned his pastorate in 1994. A brief flirtation with Unitarian Universalism
disenchanted him even with this liberal extreme of institutional religion. For
six years, Bob and Carol [author‘s wife] led a living room church called The
Grail. Now, back in North Carolina, he attends the Episcopal Church and
keeps his mouth shut.ii
Note
[i] Theosophy and Culture: Nicholas Roerich, by Anita Stasulane (2005). Publisher: Interreligious and
Intercultural Investigations Series, Volume 8, 20.
http://home.dejazzd.com/jszimhart/roerichreview.htm
Joe Szimhart
Top Secret: The Truth Behind Today’s Pop Mysticisms
Robert M. Price, Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2008. ISBN-10: 1591026083
ISBN-13: 978-1-59102-608-2 (hardcover), $24.95 ($16.47 Amazon.com). 370
pages.
Top Secret is a facetious title for an ambitious book about a somewhat inscrutable topic.
Robert Price challenges the reader to ride along with him through relatively popular realms
of neo-spirituality—the kind you might experience by watching an Oprah Winfrey program
or a Sunday morning mega-church televangelist. Listed on the book‘s cover are ―The Secret
and New Thought A Course In Miracles and Marianne Williamson The Celestine Prophecy
Joel Osteen‘s Prosperity Gospel Madonna‘s Kabbalah Deepak Chopra [and] Dierdre
Blomfeld-Brown, aka Pema Chödrön.‖ But there is more. Price also includes chapters about
modern Gnostics Carl Jung and Stephan A. Hoeller, Oprah‘s latest favorite guru Eckhart
Tolle, and authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, who wrote The Jesus Mysteries: Was the
“Original Jesus” a Pagan God? Seemingly out of place and for no obvious reason, the author
adds appendixes containing around thirty-five pages about the cult problem,
deprogramming, and how best to understand and relate to cults.
Price has written other books that deconstruct Christian teaching and traditions, but this is
the first title by him that I have read. After finishing this provocative volume, I was curious:
Just who is Robert Price? I found that the author‘s career path alone is a study in
postmodern spirituality. The book jacket tells us that he is a professor of scriptural studies
at Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary (located at the Universal Truth Center in Miami,
Florida). Johnnie Colemon, named after a woman who was a minister of Unity Church in the
1950s but by 1974 established her own branch of New Thought spirituality, states its
mission as ―training of women and men for the ministries of the New Thought Christian
Movement.‖i Today, Robert Price lives in North Carolina with his family, according to
http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/. Price was born in 1954 in Mississippi and
studied Christian apologetics in college while he lived in New Jersey, where he also became
pastor of a Baptist church. By the late 1970s, he had reassessed his faith and adopted a
more liberal, anthropological view in the camps of Paul Tillich and Robert Bultmann. Price
got his Ph.D. in systematic theology from Drew University in 1981. Still, this was not
enough for the intellectually restless Price. I will let the author‘s Website speak for him:
Price soon enrolled in a second doctoral program at Drew, receiving the Ph.D.
in New Testament in 1993. These studies, together with his encounter with
the writings of Don Cupitt, Jacques Derrida, and the New Testament critics of
the Nineteenth Century, rapidly eroded his liberal Christian stance, and Price
resigned his pastorate in 1994. A brief flirtation with Unitarian Universalism
disenchanted him even with this liberal extreme of institutional religion. For
six years, Bob and Carol [author‘s wife] led a living room church called The
Grail. Now, back in North Carolina, he attends the Episcopal Church and
keeps his mouth shut.ii
