Lecture 1 -Responding to the New Age

Eastern Religion Meets the West

C.S. Lewis said he believed that the two great religious rivalries were between Christianity (as the highest representative of theism) and Pantheism (All is One). The New Age Movement has exploded onto the scene in the West in the last thirty years. Eastern religious philosophy (of various types) has infiltrated many areas of our everyday life. Film series like Star Wars, various holistic health approaches, and transpersonal psychology are just a few places where this view impacts our society. The New Age book sections in leading bookstores are as large or larger than the Christian book sections. If we fail to understand this growing movement, we will be unable to respond to those affected by it or perhaps even be unaware of how it is affecting us. Even though the New Age Movement has “new” elements, it is really an ancient philosophy. This “All is One” and “You are god” approach goes back to Old Testament paganism.