The System of Antichrist: Truth and Falsehood in Postmodernism and the New Age

626 Pages·2005·4.15 MB·English

by  Charles Upton

The System of Antichrist:
Truth & Falsehood
in Postmodernism
and the New Age
CHARLES UPTON
THE SYSTEM OF ANTICHRIST
TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD
IN POSTMODERNISM
AND THE NEW AGE
SOPHIA PERENNIS
HILLSDALE NY
First published in the USA
by Sophia Perennis, Ghent, NY 2001
Series editor: James R. Wetmore © copyright 2001
All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, without permission
For information, address:
Sophia Perennis, P.O. Box 611
Hillsdale NY 12075
sophiaperennis.com
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Upton, Charles, 1948–
The system of Antichrist: truth and falsehood in postmodernism and
the New Age / Charles Upton
p. cm.
Includes index
ISBN 0 900588 30 6 (pbk: alk. paper) ISBN 0 900588 38 1 (cloth: alk. paper) Ebook ISBN 9781597319515
1. New Age movement. 2. Tradition (Philosophy). 3.
Antichrist—Miscellanea. 4. Postmodernism—Religious aspects. I. Title BP605.N48 u68 2001
299’.93—dc2l 2001000394
By the same author:
Hammering Hot Iron: A Spiritual Critique of Bly’s Iron John
Doorkeepers of the Heart: Versions of Rabi’a
The Wars of Love (in press)
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
Part One: Tradition vs. the New Age
Foreword
1Postmodernism, Globalism, and the New Age
2Who are the Traditionalists?
3What is the New Age?
IA Short History of the ‘Spiritual Revolution’ and the New Age Movement
IIThe Dangers of the Occult
IIINew Age Doctrines Refuted
4New Age Authorities: A Divided House
IThe Fallacy of the Psychic Absolute: Truth and Deception in The Seth
Material
IIThe Postmodern Traveler: Don Carlos Castaneda
IIITranscendence without Immanence: The Neo-Gnosticism of A Course in
Miracles
IVThe Celestine Prophecy: a Pre-Columbian Singles Culture
VHaving It vs. Eating It: The Entrepreneurial Hinduism of Deepak Chopra
Part Two: Spiritual Warfare
5The Shadows of God
6The War Against Love
7UFOs and Traditional Metaphysics: A Postmodern Demonology
8Vigilance at the Eleventh Hour: A Refutation of The Only Tradition
9Comparative Eschatology
10Facing Apocalypse
Index
Nasir [Sherif of Medina] rolled over on his back, with my glasses, and began to
study the stars, counting aloud first one group and then another; crying out with
surprise at discovering little lights not noticed by his unaided eye. Auda set us
on to talk of telescopes—of the great ones—and of how man in three hundred
years had so far advanced from his first essay that now he built glasses as long
as a tent, through which he counted thousands of unknown stars. We slipped into
talk of suns beyond suns, sizes and distances beyond wit. ‘What will now happen
with this knowledge?’ asked Mohammed. ‘We shall set to, and many learned and
some clever men together will make glasses as more powerful than ours, as ours
than Galileo’s; and yet more hundreds of astronomers will distinguish and
reckon yet more thousands of now unseen stars, mapping them, and giving each
one its name. When we see them all, there will be no night in heaven.’ ‘Why are
the Westerners always wanting all?’ provokingly said Auda. ‘Behind our few
stars we can see God, who is not behind your millions.’ We want the world’s
end, Auda.’ ‘But that is God’s,’ complained Zaal. . . .
∼T.E. Lawrence, from Seven Pillars of Wisdom

A body of my people will not cease to fight for the truth until the coming forth of
the Antichrist . . . but God will slay him at the hand of Jesus, who will show them
his blood upon the lance.
∼Hadith