Oprah Winfrey must really bug Stephen Mansfield. A lot. Sure, he claims to admire her and he seems to have spent a lot of time reading other people’s biographies of her, but his basic thesis is that she has turned away from Christianity (meaning, his specific interpretation of Christianity which he insists repeatedly is the one that is “true”) and has turned to other, lesser forms of religious expression and, in so doing, has lead millions of television viewers down a dangerous path.
It is clear that this thesis was formed long before he started the book, and all of his “evidence” is merely there to confirm what he already believes to be true. In a chapter entitled “The Age of Oprah” he outlines the social forces at work during Oprah’s lifetime, including the Beat Generation, the rise of The Church of Satan and Transcendental Meditation. The problem with this is that it is an extremely limited vision of the factors leading up to the current spiritual climate of America and there is absolutely no reason to think these were the key factors in Oprah’s personal journey. He talks about Jack Kerouac and The Beatles but barely mentions segregation in the south, the Civil Rights Movement or the Women’s Liberation Movement. Surely these would have informed Oprah Winfrey’s world view, including her spiritual journey?
