Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 3, 2009, Page 54
As another indication of just how far the author has moved from the Christian
fundamentalism of his youth, secular humanist Paul Kurtz hired Price to work for the Center
for Inquiry and for The Jesus Project as Professor of Biblical Criticism.iii Price and his
skeptical colleagues argue that a man named Jesus may have lived 2,000 years ago, but
that evidence for the historical Jesus is sorely lacking. Price argues that the Gospel of Jesus
is a story cobbled together from ancient Jewish and pagan prototypes. He indicates that
even if there was a super prophet named Jesus of Nazareth, the Gospel tradition is based on
a mythic version of him, so all we have today is the myth. In this view, Price is radical
because even most atheist scholars of religion agree that a real Jesus did live, teach, and
die, if not exactly as described in the Gospels. Answering critics, Price states:
As to how it feels to be beyond the fringe, I can only say it is exhilarating to
pursue new paradigms and see where they lead, instructed by great scholars
of the past and present but in no way obliged to swallow all their conclusions.
I certainly do not ask anyone else to swallow mine, as if they were some kind
of catechism. I am content to pursue my own ideas and to provide stimulation
for others to think of possibilities they hadn‘t before. They will come up with
their own syntheses, and I hope they do it soon enough that I may read and
learn from them.iv
Now, let us get back to his book, Top Secret.
Apparently, Price has not kept his ―mouth shut.‖ Top Secret represents a collection of new
topics the author has written about since 2000. The book‘s title is a spin on the mega-seller
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (2006). As I mentioned, I knew nothing of Price‘s background
when I first read his book, but I found it odd that he would so readily point out Byrne‘s
simple-minded magical ideas and ridicule A Course in Miracles as ―A Course in Malarkey,‖
yet defend meaningful concepts from the New Thought basis of those and other subjects
covered in the book. Price helps the reader along by describing New Thought ideas based on
its origins in the 19th century. He also offers a useful brief on Gnosticism (chapter 9, ―Know-
It-Alls‖) and its influences on New Age and New Thought religious ideas.
His defense of New Thought proper goes something like this:
The Secret has invited a storm of justified criticism because of its embrace of,
indeed its harping on, bogus physics to make what is essentially a sound and
clever psychological point. If only Byrne and her adherents would drop the
pseudoscience! All this talk of ―frequencies‖ and ―sensing out vibrations‖ must
be recognized, and thus be respected, as metaphor. (47)
I agree partially with this keen insight by Price. New Age-infected spirituality tends to be
fundamentalist in that ―energies‖ or relational qualities such as love, judgment, and
harmony are taken literally as quantifiable entities. In other words, you can store up and
send more love or healing power by meditating or using a specific ritual, affirmation, or
mantra. Think witches casting spells, Harry Potter waving his wand, or Papa Smurf making
magic invocations. Price repeats this insight over and again as he critiques the nonsense
science taught by the narcissistic post-TMer Deepak Chopra, the muddle-headed psycho-
spirituality behind A Course in Miracles, the hackneyed New Age magic in The Celestine
Prophecy by James Redfield, and the vapid grandiosity of our latest celebrity guru, Eckhart
Tolle (pronounced TOH-lee).
I agree only partially with Price because I have less sympathy for New Thought or New
Thought religion (Church of Religious Science, Science of the Mind, Christian Science,
Scientology, Unity) than he does. New Thought as metaphor still does not work for me.
Homeopathy or chiropractic might qualify as useful medical metaphors under Price‘s view,
but such pseudo remedies involve a lot of waste of time and money, if not health. The real
As another indication of just how far the author has moved from the Christian
fundamentalism of his youth, secular humanist Paul Kurtz hired Price to work for the Center
for Inquiry and for The Jesus Project as Professor of Biblical Criticism.iii Price and his
skeptical colleagues argue that a man named Jesus may have lived 2,000 years ago, but
that evidence for the historical Jesus is sorely lacking. Price argues that the Gospel of Jesus
is a story cobbled together from ancient Jewish and pagan prototypes. He indicates that
even if there was a super prophet named Jesus of Nazareth, the Gospel tradition is based on
a mythic version of him, so all we have today is the myth. In this view, Price is radical
because even most atheist scholars of religion agree that a real Jesus did live, teach, and
die, if not exactly as described in the Gospels. Answering critics, Price states:
As to how it feels to be beyond the fringe, I can only say it is exhilarating to
pursue new paradigms and see where they lead, instructed by great scholars
of the past and present but in no way obliged to swallow all their conclusions.
I certainly do not ask anyone else to swallow mine, as if they were some kind
of catechism. I am content to pursue my own ideas and to provide stimulation
for others to think of possibilities they hadn‘t before. They will come up with
their own syntheses, and I hope they do it soon enough that I may read and
learn from them.iv
Now, let us get back to his book, Top Secret.
Apparently, Price has not kept his ―mouth shut.‖ Top Secret represents a collection of new
topics the author has written about since 2000. The book‘s title is a spin on the mega-seller
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (2006). As I mentioned, I knew nothing of Price‘s background
when I first read his book, but I found it odd that he would so readily point out Byrne‘s
simple-minded magical ideas and ridicule A Course in Miracles as ―A Course in Malarkey,‖
yet defend meaningful concepts from the New Thought basis of those and other subjects
covered in the book. Price helps the reader along by describing New Thought ideas based on
its origins in the 19th century. He also offers a useful brief on Gnosticism (chapter 9, ―Know-
It-Alls‖) and its influences on New Age and New Thought religious ideas.
His defense of New Thought proper goes something like this:
The Secret has invited a storm of justified criticism because of its embrace of,
indeed its harping on, bogus physics to make what is essentially a sound and
clever psychological point. If only Byrne and her adherents would drop the
pseudoscience! All this talk of ―frequencies‖ and ―sensing out vibrations‖ must
be recognized, and thus be respected, as metaphor. (47)
I agree partially with this keen insight by Price. New Age-infected spirituality tends to be
fundamentalist in that ―energies‖ or relational qualities such as love, judgment, and
harmony are taken literally as quantifiable entities. In other words, you can store up and
send more love or healing power by meditating or using a specific ritual, affirmation, or
mantra. Think witches casting spells, Harry Potter waving his wand, or Papa Smurf making
magic invocations. Price repeats this insight over and again as he critiques the nonsense
science taught by the narcissistic post-TMer Deepak Chopra, the muddle-headed psycho-
spirituality behind A Course in Miracles, the hackneyed New Age magic in The Celestine
Prophecy by James Redfield, and the vapid grandiosity of our latest celebrity guru, Eckhart
Tolle (pronounced TOH-lee).
I agree only partially with Price because I have less sympathy for New Thought or New
Thought religion (Church of Religious Science, Science of the Mind, Christian Science,
Scientology, Unity) than he does. New Thought as metaphor still does not work for me.
Homeopathy or chiropractic might qualify as useful medical metaphors under Price‘s view,
but such pseudo remedies involve a lot of waste of time and money, if not health. The real
