orientation.nThis suggests that a simple-mindednscientism, artificially and naively extendednin time by the Asimovs and thenSagans, was only a passing phase, thatnits inherent instability was such that itnhad to give way before long. It isnremarkable that it lasted as long as itndid, but that long life was largely anphenomenon of the English-speakingnworld. Writing in The Idea of Naturen(1945), British philosopher R.G. Collingwoodncontended that its passingnmarked the end of a temporary aberrationnin intellectual history and a returnnto the mainstream of Europeannthought.nThere were prophets early in thencentury, who, observing the singlemindednmania of the science-boosters,ncould see that it had to come to annend. Oswald Spengler, in his massiventwo-volume tome The Decline of thenWest, predicted that the prevalent materialismnwould become unbearablenand that people would feel impelled tontoy with weird cults as a means ofnescape. Max Weber, in his threevolumenEconomy and Society, prophesiednthat phenomenal man wouldncollapse into emotionalism andnirrationality, which would be the preludenfor the increase of centralizednpolitical power.nIf we read the Humanist Manifestosnof 1933 and 1973 or innumerablendocuments from educators, lawyers,npolitical parties, professional groups,nand journalists, we see that, by andnlarge, they’re expressions of the Kantiannphenomenal branch of modernism.nThey assume that history is selfcontained;nthat legal and ethical normsnare mere conventions; that salvationncomes by human endeavor; that sciencenhas provided (or will provide) allnthat we need to know and to have; thatnthere is no valid expression of thensupernatural possible; that all meaningncomes from human definition and,nhence, is arbitrary. In other words,nthese writings are forms of what hasncome to be called in some circlesn”secular humanism.” This is what isnon the way out. But what is going tonreplace it? Will it be the Christiannalternative that it began displacing innthe 18th century,” or will it be somethingnelse?nGary North, in Unholy Spirits, seesnthe crucial phase of the change in thenUnited States as the mid-1960’s. Thenopen eccentricities of the counterculturenprovided the most visible manifestations,nbut the essence of thenmovement—not widely recognized atnthe time—was a rejection of the merelynphenomenal in favor of the noumenal.nAs the leader of a Satanworshipingncult put it, “When peoplencome in here, they’re expected to parkntheir brains at the door.” It was the endnof what Weber had called the “disenchantmentnof the world”—which hadnbeen mainly the contribution of Christiannideas in the West, the thinkingnwhich had made science possible. Thenspooks had returned, with a vengeance.nThe remarkable thing was that itnseemed to happen overnight. In thendim recesses had lurked philosophicalnidealism, religious mysticism. Easternnreligion, the remnants of witchcraftnand other esoteric manifestations ofnthe noumenal; but now, as if they hadnreceived the long-awaited signal thatnthe Trojans were asleep, they sprangnfully formed from where they had lainnhidden. Hard as it is to believe, thenspooks were joined by science. Thenwork of Heisenberg and Plank hadnundercut the hard atoms and determinismnof the Newtonian world view,nreplacing the old certainties with newnuncertainties.nIf physics—supposedly that hardestnof the hard sciences — could fosternmysticism, then why be surprised thatnthe social sciences should follow suit?nCarlos Castaneda was able to use hisnalleged conversations with a Mexicannshaman as the basis for a sympatheticnportrayal in a doctoral dissertation thatnmade witchcraft respectable. The popularitynof his later books is convincingnproof that the public caught up to—orndid it lead?—the academics.nMy favorite prophet in this monumentalnchange is the Harvard theologynprofessor Harvey Cox. Cox is not thensort of seer who hears the voice of Codnor uses sheep entrails to divine thenfuture. He’s an expert, rather, at dopingnout changing trends and recuttingnhis philosophy to fit. Cox is the preeminentntheologian of fashion. In 1965nhe published The Secular City, hisnpaeon to secularity, to the phenomenalnworld which was leading us to annearthly paradise. Cox relied heavily onnthe German theologian Dietrich Bon-nnnhoeflfer, who argued that in the 20thncentury man would not need religionnas a shield or as an explanation fornreality. But Cox published his book atnprecisely the moment in history whennit was being proved wrong. He repentednswiftly and began work on The Feastnof Fools, which appeared in 1969. Thensubtitie of this volume was A TheologicalnEssay on Festivity and Fantasy,nand that was a good indication that henhad rejected the gray-flannel-suitnmentality that had dominated his earliernbook. Looking around at all thenbizarre goings-on of the 60’s—the denialnof rationality and the exaltation ofnfantasy—Cox pronounced it good; Fornhim irrationality had become a Christiannvirtue.nIn retrospect, we can see that ThenFeast of Fools was only a way station.nThere is, after all, a certain flimsiness,nhence instability, to a position thatnsays that human rationality is a functionnof our creation in the image ofnGod, on the one hand, and denyingnthe efficacy of reason on the othernhand. To exalt the irrational on a basisnthat has some inner consistency, onenwould have to depart more frankly andndecisively from the biblical roots. Coxndid that in 1977 with the publicationnof Turning East: The Promise and Perilnof the New Orientalism, a frank exaltationnof Eastern pantheism and a callnfor its incorporation into Americannreligion and culture.nIt is hard to say how influentialnthese books have been, although it isncertain they haven’t raised the stir thatnThe Secular City did. In any case.nCox’s variety of prophet does not leadnthe way so much as show that the trailnblazed by others has shifted direction.nWith the appearance in 1980 ofnMarilyn Ferguson’s The AquariannConspiracy, the movement had itsnown chronicler, who revealed that farnfrom remaining an exotic plant, orientalnthinking had become domesticatednand made suitable for the tastes ofnWestern sophisticates. Ferguson wasnalso able to document the number ofn”normal” pursuits and institutionsn—like the corporation and the academicndiscipline — which had beennpermeated by New Age thinking.nThe New Age religion did not havento rely on shamanism, witchcraft, andnovert demonism. Now there were intellectualsnlike Erich Fromm, CarlnAPRIL 1987/27n