Fascination with zombies and vampires reflects a global New Spirituality which America shapes through pop culture, said theologian Ross Clifford, author of The Cross Is Not Enough: Living as Witnesses to the Resurrection.
Clifford, principal of Morling College in New South Wales, Australia, believes the current paranormal craze fits into a broader movement of religious thoughts, including what was known a few years ago as the New Age movement.
New Spirituality draws bits and pieces from different religions and spiritual sources, says Ross Clifford.
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America is the epicenter and exporter of this New Spirituality, Clifford maintains.
“It’s Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love; it’s Oprah, it’s Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle. This New Spirituality is an adult search for meaning and direction outside of institutionalized Christianity as they see it,” he said.
Clifford believes one characteristic of the New Spirituality is to pick and choose from religious systems those elements it wishes to incorporate.
“It’s eclectic, drawing bits and pieces of truth from different religions and spiritual sources,” he notes.
New Spirituality focuses on making the individual the best person he or she can possibly become. In seeking this end, it draws heavily from Eastern as well as Western religious systems.
According to Clifford, the Pew Research Center shows many Americans who indicate no religious commitment actually embrace New Spirituality. He observes a connection between pop culture’s fascination with the undead and the broader category of New Spirituality.
“Our generation has known Christianity if only nominally, and is now exploring an alternative spirituality beyond Christianity and more embracing,” he said.
Theologians like Clifford point out the piecemeal approach of New Spirituality leaves it without a central belief system. Critics of New Spirituality predict a philosophy that seeks to draw one thing from one religion and something else from another, and makes the self — even improving the self — its central focus and purpose cannot be ultimately satisfying.
Clifford calls the church’s response to New Spirituality an “exciting challenge, because they are asking us spiritual questions.”
“The young people are searching through Twilight. They want to know how they can be the best person they can possibly be. So, we have a wonderful opportunity to connect with a thirsty generation,” he said.
“It is wonderful to see what churches are doing and can do. I just think of this as an exciting time to be able in our way, not Bible-bash people, but to let them see that in the search for meaning today, we said no to the materialism, we said no to the chase for the dollar — the economic crisis has guaranteed that. We have a wonderful opportunity to redirect the conversation and see people finding fulfillment in Jesus.”
Jim White (jwhite@religiousherald.org) is executive editor of the Religious Herald.
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