Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1 1988 Page 102
publication of Turning East: The Promise and Peril of the New Orientalism a frank exaltation of
Eastern pantheism and a call for its incorporation into American religion and culture.
It is hard to say how influential these books have been, although it is certain they haven‘t raised
the stir that The Secular City did. In any case, Cox‘s variety of prophet does not lead the way so
much as show that the trail blazed by others has shifted direction. With the appearance in 1980
of Marilyn Ferguson‘s The Aquarian Conspiracy, the movement had its own chronicler, who
revealed that far from remaining an exotic plant, oriental thinking had become domesticated and
made suitable for the tastes of Western sophisticates. Ferguson was also able to document the
number of ―normal‖ pursuits and institutions -like the corporation and the academic discipline -
which had been permeated by New Age thinking.
The New Age religion did not have to rely on shamanism, witchcraft, and overt demonism. Now
there were intellectuals like Erich Fromm, Carl Rogers, George Leonard, William Irwin Thompson,
and Theodore Roszak -not to mention Shirley MacLaine. Respectable causes like holistic health
and the human potential movement in psychology became havens for New Age thinking. The
affinity between the new physics and pantheism brought in scientific recruits like physicist Frigof
Capra of Berkeley. Consulting groups, such as the Pacific Institute, provided sanitized versions of
mystical philosophy for corporations and government agencies including those of the intelligence
and defense establishments. Perhaps sensing yet another arena in which they were being left in
the dust, Soviet research teams have been focusing enormous resources on the paranormal,
unconsciously inviting a redefinition of the term ―scientific socialism.‖
Naive souls might have expected to find the churches in the forefront in exposing this assault on
the primary principles of Christian faith, but that has hardly been the case. The mainline
Protestant denominations are lost in their accustomed sleep from which they awaken only to
posture about sanctuary or apartheid. On the other hand, the Evangelicals have produced popular
works alerting those willing to be alerted of the coming tide. British sociologist Os Guinness‘
interpretation of the counterculture of the 60s, The Dust of Death (1971), and James Sire‘s
taxonomic study, The Universe Next Door (1976), had considerable material on the philosophic
roots and the practical outworkings of the movement in their overtly mystical forms.
However, it was not until 1983 that there appeared the serious exposes of the New Age
movement in its now characteristic forms -that is, the ―secular‖ forms attractive to the educated
middle class: Constance Cumbey‘s The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow and Dave Hunt‘s Peace,
Prosperity and the Coming Holocaust. Hunt followed that two years later with The Seduction of
Christianity, which was an exposition, naming names, of the ways in which New Age thinking had
been infiltrating into Christian groups. Cumbey and Hunt would have reached wider audiences if
their books were not tied to the apocalyptic premillennialism that appeals to so many
fundamentalist groups.
By contrast, both Groothius and North write in the tradition of reformed Christianity. Unmasking
the New Age is a straightforward, general survey of the movements manifestations in American
society. Groothius‘ six identifying marks of the movement may be redundant but serve to
illustrate the unitarian mentality of New Agers: (1) All is one. Differences are apparent only,
without ontological standing. (2) All is God. The divine essence is everywhere and in everything.
(3) Humanity is God. (Good news for the would-be divinities, who take their cue from The Next
Whole Earth Catalogue: ―We are as Gods and might as well get good at it.‖). (4) A change in
consciousness. If we fail to see the unity of everything and understand our own status as gods,
the fault lies in bad thinking. We can raise our consciousness on classic Asian religions, or for lazy
Americans there are quick fixes like est. (5) All religions are one -all roads going to the same
place and all that. Similarly no systems of thought are unique, and no religions either. So watch
out when they talk of the ―Christ event:‖ they mean something else. (6) Cosmic evolutionary
optimism. The unfolding of the world divinity in history means everything keeps getting better all
the time. Much of Groothius‘ book is a fleshing out of the promises of the six marks. He‘s
publication of Turning East: The Promise and Peril of the New Orientalism a frank exaltation of
Eastern pantheism and a call for its incorporation into American religion and culture.
It is hard to say how influential these books have been, although it is certain they haven‘t raised
the stir that The Secular City did. In any case, Cox‘s variety of prophet does not lead the way so
much as show that the trail blazed by others has shifted direction. With the appearance in 1980
of Marilyn Ferguson‘s The Aquarian Conspiracy, the movement had its own chronicler, who
revealed that far from remaining an exotic plant, oriental thinking had become domesticated and
made suitable for the tastes of Western sophisticates. Ferguson was also able to document the
number of ―normal‖ pursuits and institutions -like the corporation and the academic discipline -
which had been permeated by New Age thinking.
The New Age religion did not have to rely on shamanism, witchcraft, and overt demonism. Now
there were intellectuals like Erich Fromm, Carl Rogers, George Leonard, William Irwin Thompson,
and Theodore Roszak -not to mention Shirley MacLaine. Respectable causes like holistic health
and the human potential movement in psychology became havens for New Age thinking. The
affinity between the new physics and pantheism brought in scientific recruits like physicist Frigof
Capra of Berkeley. Consulting groups, such as the Pacific Institute, provided sanitized versions of
mystical philosophy for corporations and government agencies including those of the intelligence
and defense establishments. Perhaps sensing yet another arena in which they were being left in
the dust, Soviet research teams have been focusing enormous resources on the paranormal,
unconsciously inviting a redefinition of the term ―scientific socialism.‖
Naive souls might have expected to find the churches in the forefront in exposing this assault on
the primary principles of Christian faith, but that has hardly been the case. The mainline
Protestant denominations are lost in their accustomed sleep from which they awaken only to
posture about sanctuary or apartheid. On the other hand, the Evangelicals have produced popular
works alerting those willing to be alerted of the coming tide. British sociologist Os Guinness‘
interpretation of the counterculture of the 60s, The Dust of Death (1971), and James Sire‘s
taxonomic study, The Universe Next Door (1976), had considerable material on the philosophic
roots and the practical outworkings of the movement in their overtly mystical forms.
However, it was not until 1983 that there appeared the serious exposes of the New Age
movement in its now characteristic forms -that is, the ―secular‖ forms attractive to the educated
middle class: Constance Cumbey‘s The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow and Dave Hunt‘s Peace,
Prosperity and the Coming Holocaust. Hunt followed that two years later with The Seduction of
Christianity, which was an exposition, naming names, of the ways in which New Age thinking had
been infiltrating into Christian groups. Cumbey and Hunt would have reached wider audiences if
their books were not tied to the apocalyptic premillennialism that appeals to so many
fundamentalist groups.
By contrast, both Groothius and North write in the tradition of reformed Christianity. Unmasking
the New Age is a straightforward, general survey of the movements manifestations in American
society. Groothius‘ six identifying marks of the movement may be redundant but serve to
illustrate the unitarian mentality of New Agers: (1) All is one. Differences are apparent only,
without ontological standing. (2) All is God. The divine essence is everywhere and in everything.
(3) Humanity is God. (Good news for the would-be divinities, who take their cue from The Next
Whole Earth Catalogue: ―We are as Gods and might as well get good at it.‖). (4) A change in
consciousness. If we fail to see the unity of everything and understand our own status as gods,
the fault lies in bad thinking. We can raise our consciousness on classic Asian religions, or for lazy
Americans there are quick fixes like est. (5) All religions are one -all roads going to the same
place and all that. Similarly no systems of thought are unique, and no religions either. So watch
out when they talk of the ―Christ event:‖ they mean something else. (6) Cosmic evolutionary
optimism. The unfolding of the world divinity in history means everything keeps getting better all
the time. Much of Groothius‘ book is a fleshing out of the promises of the six marks. He‘s
