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Review of Ray Yungen, A Time of Departing, 2nd ed., 2006, Lighthouse Trails Publishing.
Christian books on the “New Age” movement are hardly new. Many writers and ministers have sought to alert Christians to the inherent incompatibilities found in religions such as Transcendental Meditation, Wicca, and so on. Few attack it with the breadth of scope that Ray Yungen does, particularly in regards to its influence within the bounds of traditional Christianity. He sees Eastern mysticism and occultism not merely from the far-off fringes of society, but believes that they have already crept in to every corner of modern Christianity, from Catholicism to Evangelicalism to Emergent. In reading A Time of Departing, I found the questions Yungen raises to be important ones. However his reasoning and connections become shaky at best.
Yungen’s book, while it covers many aspects of Eastern thought and practice, is most concerned with contemplative prayer. This alone will make it of interest to many within the Emergent conversation. He is quite adamant that contemplative prayer has no place in Christianity because he believes that it inevitably leads to the New Age belief of panentheism: that God is in all things. The key link is really a solitary one: silence. That is, the silence emphasized in various forms of contemplative prayer.
Yungen describes the importance of silence in Eastern meditation and differentiates it from the sort of “pondering” meditation others may be familiar with:
“New Age meditation…involves ridding oneself of all thoughts in order to still the mind by putting it in the equivalent of pause or neutral…until the mind becomes thoughtless, empty and void (p15).”
There are two means of achieving this state: breathing exercises such as yoga which focus the mind on the breath, and mantras which are repeated words, sounds or phrases. It is through the emptying of the mind that one becomes open to altered states of consciousness, aware that “God is in everything and everything is in God (p29).”
It quickly becomes clear that Yungen has no tolerance at all for any kind of silence in prayer, as he sees silence as a key part of Eastern meditation and therefore un-Christian. Forms of prayer that try to still the mind and heart are not only illogical but dangerous.
“The silence [of contemplative prayer and occultism] is all really the same. It transcends context. Whatever the format in which it is placed, from stress reduction to contemplative prayer, it inevitably leads to a certain spiritual perception, but one that contradicts the Gospel and nullifies the Cross as essential to salvation [panentheism] (p100).”
This is a tremendous leap of logic and reason – one that I’m not willing to make. Yungen provides the requisite prooftexts as trump cards, usually without any exegesis and with minimal discussion. At times his critiques hold, but his rigidity in reading the text also disallows any discussion of interpretation. He claims to find no call for silent prayer in the bible, including Psalm 46:10 “be still and know that I am God”, and therefore rules it out of normal Christian practice.
It is at this point that Yungen begins his critique of centering prayer. He attempts to draw direct lines from Eastern practices through the Desert Fathers to Catholic mystics to mainline evangelicals. The silence of centering and contemplative prayer is the common feature which he traces back to occultism and Gnosticism. It’s in the drawing of these lines that Yungen’s methodology and reasoning break down. Here’s how it works:
1. Ancient mystics and heretics practiced meditation through silence
2. These mystics influenced the Desert Fathers
3. the Desert Fathers influenced Thomas Merton’s understanding of prayer
4. Thomas Merton influenced Richard Foster’s practice of prayer
5. Richard Foster is embraced by many evangelicals, including Rick Warren
6. Rick Warren, Richard Foster, et.al. are mystics and heretics
While this comes off as simple logic, it’s really more like simplistic logic. He relies almost entirely on guilt by promotion, which he regards as “a more powerful premise than guilt by association…[because] guilt by promotion or proxy shows endorsement and actual support and encouragement(p88)”. Yungen often uses endorsements – even the quick nods of approval on book jackets – as reason enough to cast doubts on the endorser’s intelligence, honesty or faith. Unfortunately he stretches the bounds of common sense as he seems to believe that when one endorses or quotes an author then that person absolutely agrees 100% with everything that author has written, said or did. A parallel would be assuming that when a pastor quotes Churchill in a sermon he approves of every sentence Churchill has uttered. Not only that, but guilt can be laid even if that author happened to quote or approve of someone on Yungen’s list of offenders. This is nonsense. Using Yungen’s methodology you can trace anyone – including Chuck Swindoll (p191) – to the Majarishi. After reading this book the game of “six degrees of separation” that he is playing becomes readily apparent and, honestly, quite tiresome.
Other problems are apparent beyond his poor reasoning. First, while one cannot find direct calls or commands within scripture to pray silently or contemplatively, there is ample evidence of the call to rest and to simply consider God in His glory.
Psalm 62: 1 Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. 2 He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved…. 5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.
Habakkuk 2:20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.
In my understanding, this is the goal of contemplative prayer – not to have new knowledge or to have the God within revealed, but to be reminded of the presence of God of the universe. Richard Foster also writes that, as opposed to the more self-centered practice of Eastern meditation, Christian meditation allows us to be free to “give ourselves to God freely (p21).”
Second, Yungen does not follow up to describe how we are to listen to God. His definition of prayer is not inaccurate, but it is incomplete. He describes prayer as only speaking to God – “a sequence of thoughts on a spiritual subject (p75).” Not only is this one of the worst definitions of prayer I’ve ever seen in print, but it presents a totally one-sided conversation. At one point he argues that
“the repeating of words has no rational value. For instance, if someone called you on the phone and just said your name over and over, would that be something you found edifying? Of course not; you would hang up on him or her. Why would God feel otherwise? (p76)”
To use his same analogy, God should have the same response to someone who calls him and prattles on and on about spiritual subjects without letting Him get a word in. One has to eventually shut one’s mouth and listen – and frequently that listening involves some sort of calming, stilling, and silence. Yungen doesn’t address this at all.
Third, Yungen relies on perceived similarity in his arguments to equate New Age mysticism and Christian meditation. Similarity of intent rarely enters into his arguments, as he largely considers context and intent to be irrelevant. This is important as the context and intent of Christian meditation are quite different that that of Eastern meditation. Similarity of language, practice or association is enough for him to condemn the entire Christian practice, though. For example, towards the end of A Time of Departing Yungen discusses the emerging church’s interest in “vintage Christianity” and ancient practices including meditation and contemplative prayer. He criticizes Brian McLaren for considering Richard Foster to be a leader in the emerging church as well as for endorsing Alan Jones’ Reimagining Christianity (another back-cover reference). He reserves his deepest criticism for Youth Specialties writer Mike Perschon, who described his own interest and involvement with meditation. At one point Yungen notes that Perschon describes his meditation as being able to achieve “alpha brain patterns (p176)”, a sort of lucid dreaming state. Yungen equates this alpha state with a kind of “alpha consciousness” described by Laurie Cabot, a Wiccan. While the two are both using the same term, it is not necessarily clear that they are both speaking of the same concept or phenomena. Alpha is one of four brainwave patterns – alpha, beta, theta and delta – and is typically associated in brain studies with light meditation. Alpha consciousness, on the other hand, is connected with more esoteric forms of enlightenment and metaphysics. Perschon seems to be speaking of the psycho-biological state, which need not be inexorably linked to witchcraft. Yungen, however, equates the two merely because they share the same name and some similar concepts and summarily dispatches with both.
Yungen does raise valid points about New Age practices and their rising acceptance in society and Christendom. However, I found the book most interesting in that it continues to show that the question of the boundaries of Christian faith is not one that is going away anytime soon. Some of the most heated discussions on The Ooze have centered on boundary issues: What makes one a Christian? What are our standards? Should we have standards at all? Who decides? These are hardly new issues. The earliest church councils all had to wrestle with these questions and the Emergent church seems eager to continue to revisit and wrestle with them again. It remains to be seen where these boundaries will be and what they will look like. However, I believe we can think things through more thoroughly than I’ve seen in A Time of Departing.
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Thank you Mr. Blair for an extremely well-written and thoughtful review of A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen. I read as much as I could possibly endure of the book today and I agree with your review, it was very tiresome.
I spent several hours yesterday at a local Catholic monastery praying and seeking God in a quiet environment. There was no mantra chanted, just a quiet time pouring out my heart to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in an environment that is conducive to this type of spiritual pursuit. This sort of personal retreat refreshes me spiritually and is something I have sought out on my own. I am not familiar with Eastern religions nor do I have a desire to learn more about them. Other than the Purpose Driven Life, I have not read any of the books that author Ray Yungen quotes or many of the authors he has researched. I do not know of anyone involved in the New Age movement. I am currently attending a conservative Baptist church and I read my Bible faithfully and meditate on scripture.
This morning at church I shared my experience and desire for quiet contemplation with a woman. She gave me a copy of A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen to read and asked me to tell her what I thought of it since she had not had a chance to read it.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines contemplate as “to ponder or consider thoughtfully”. I thought that was what I was doing in my spiritual retreat. Imagine my surprise when I learned of Ray Yungen’s “definition” of contemplative prayer. I just thought spending time alone with God in a quiet inspirational place might be a good thing to do.
I refuse to buy into Mr. Yungen’s attempts to redefine the meaning of the expression “contemplative prayer” into something sinister. I will continue to use this term because I happen to be naïve enough to believe that prayer SHOULD be pondered and considered thoughtfully.
It's funny...people who want to quote me in a positive way are kind enough to let me know when they've done so in a book. Mr. Yungen never did me the service. That damn quote has gotten me into more trouble than I can even begin to vocalize, taken largely in context from a very brief web article I was asked to write for YS, and completely out of context in regards to my life. As a result, that quote has made the rounds on many websites decrying meditative prayer. And it made me somewhat notorious. Sadly, I still don't have any New Age groups phoning me up to come and speak. I hear they pay really well.
Thank you very mucy for the review. It is quite helpful and I agree with your conclusions. I would also add that Yungen's book is laughably un-historical. The mystic tradition within historic Christianity is very wide, encompassing a number of denominations, time periods, and theological distinctives. While it is true that certain circles within mystical Christianity fell into views that were way too close to panentheism for comfort, they did so, not because of contemplative prayer, but because of neo-Platonic philosophy. Contemplative prayer is a method which can be practiced in conjunction with a wrong theology or a right theology. The practice is not the issue. The beliefs of the one praying and his/her relationship to God are the real issue. If you practice contemplative prayer as a neo-Platonist, then you will begin flirting with panentheism, not because of your prayer practice, but because of your theology. However, you can certainly practice contemplative prayer as an orthodox Christian and remain orthodox. Thousands, and maybe millions, of Christians have done so throughout church history.
Thanks, John Buerger
Well, it is no surprise to me that people caught up within the Emerging Church movement (an apostate movement) would find themselves in disagreement with the majority of Yungen's book. We hear from God by His Holy Spirit through His Word (the Bible and only the Bible) and not through the silence, not in prayer labyrinths or the like. Contemplative prayer (or centering prayer) is dangerous, dangerous, dangerous, dangerous and one can find absolutely NO example of such in the Scriptures. But the Emerging Church has yet to let the Scriptures stop them, so why start now?
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Thank you Mr. Blair for an extremely well-written and thoughtful review of A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen. I read as much as I could possibly endure of the book today and I agree with your review, it was very tiresome.
I spent several hours yesterday at a local Catholic monastery praying and seeking God in a quiet environment. There was no mantra chanted, just a quiet time pouring out my heart to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in an environment that is conducive to this type of spiritual pursuit. This sort of personal retreat refreshes me spiritually and is something I have sought out on my own. I am not familiar with Eastern religions nor do I have a desire to learn more about them. Other than the Purpose Driven Life, I have not read any of the books that author Ray Yungen quotes or many of the authors he has researched. I do not know of anyone involved in the New Age movement. I am currently attending a conservative Baptist church and I read my Bible faithfully and meditate on scripture.
This morning at church I shared my experience and desire for quiet contemplation with a woman. She gave me a copy of A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen to read and asked me to tell her what I thought of it since she had not had a chance to read it.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines contemplate as “to ponder or consider thoughtfully”. I thought that was what I was doing in my spiritual retreat. Imagine my surprise when I learned of Ray Yungen’s “definition” of contemplative prayer. I just thought spending time alone with God in a quiet inspirational place might be a good thing to do.
I refuse to buy into Mr. Yungen’s attempts to redefine the meaning of the expression “contemplative prayer” into something sinister. I will continue to use this term because I happen to be naïve enough to believe that prayer SHOULD be pondered and considered thoughtfully.
Posted by Frank R Salatino | Posted at 03/11/2007 2:36 PMIt's funny...people who want to quote me in a positive way are kind enough to let me know when they've done so in a book. Mr. Yungen never did me the service. That damn quote has gotten me into more trouble than I can even begin to vocalize, taken largely in context from a very brief web article I was asked to write for YS, and completely out of context in regards to my life. As a result, that quote has made the rounds on many websites decrying meditative prayer. And it made me somewhat notorious. Sadly, I still don't have any New Age groups phoning me up to come and speak. I hear they pay really well. Posted by Mike Perschon | Posted at 03/12/2007 2:12 PM
Thank you very mucy for the review. It is quite helpful and I agree with your conclusions. I would also add that Yungen's book is laughably un-historical. The mystic tradition within historic Christianity is very wide, encompassing a number of denominations, time periods, and theological distinctives. While it is true that certain circles within mystical Christianity fell into views that were way too close to panentheism for comfort, they did so, not because of contemplative prayer, but because of neo-Platonic philosophy. Contemplative prayer is a method which can be practiced in conjunction with a wrong theology or a right theology. The practice is not the issue. The beliefs of the one praying and his/her relationship to God are the real issue. If you practice contemplative prayer as a neo-Platonist, then you will begin flirting with panentheism, not because of your prayer practice, but because of your theology. However, you can certainly practice contemplative prayer as an orthodox Christian and remain orthodox. Thousands, and maybe millions, of Christians have done so throughout church history.
Thanks, John Buerger
Posted by John Buerger | Posted at 11/15/2007 9:04 AMWell, it is no surprise to me that people caught up within the Emerging Church movement (an apostate movement) would find themselves in disagreement with the majority of Yungen's book. We hear from God by His Holy Spirit through His Word (the Bible and only the Bible) and not through the silence, not in prayer labyrinths or the like. Contemplative prayer (or centering prayer) is dangerous, dangerous, dangerous, dangerous and one can find absolutely NO example of such in the Scriptures. But the Emerging Church has yet to let the Scriptures stop them, so why start now? Posted by scott | Posted at 12/17/2008 8:35 AM