Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

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lifetimes through which we grow towards spiritual maturity (The Theosophical Society in
Australia).
Because traditional religious forms do not spiritually satisfy postmoderns, many are
embracing New Age spiritualities. These do not provide a unified ideology or worldview.
New Age is many groupings, therapies, methods, spiritualities, teachers, and networks.
Yet, New Age spiritualities have some common goals, because it arises out of “the cultic
milieu”, which understands its practices, ideas and experiences as alternatives to
dominant religious and cultural trends.
Postmodern, New Age religious forms commonly promote yoga, meditation and
chanting, for example; though their particular beliefs vary greatly. The fact that some
quote Jesus or some other passage of the Bible, does not imply devotion to Christianity,
but is just another expression of postmodern, eclectic religiosity. Counterfeit forms of
Christianity, and all manner of wild, unfounded teachings about Jesus, and other
traditional Christian history and doctrine are very common. Just as postmoderns
deconstruct what they consider to be a mono-cultural West, so also does postmodernity
work diligently to deconstruct the mono-cultural, Judeo-Christian West, working to
replace it, or at very least diversify it, according to anti-foundationalist notions.
Tradition forms of Christianity no longer broadly appeal to people in the West, even in
the US. This is definitely a contributing factor to the decline of the mainline
denominations, which have been so quick to compromise doctrinally, but continues to
resist contextualising to meet the changing culture. New Age spiritualities are what postsecular,
postmodern, are most inclined to. These spiritual and religious forms allow great
freedom in beliefs, etc. “Since the 1990s scholars have noticed that do-it-yourself
spiritualities are more extensive than New Age. So the current umbrella term is New
Spiritualities or Alternative Spiritualities” (Johnson, 2004).
The eclectic, mix and match, religiosity now so popular in the West, often gives
greater weight to historically unsubstantiated religious claims. Conspiracy theories (e.g.,
The Da Vinci Code) are wildly popular, even though usually based on admitted fictions.
Feng Shui, fiction, myths, and gothic tales about the ‘undead’ are extremely popular.
Such tales, mixed with the latest computer technologies, bring these fanciful tales to life
University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa