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"For anyone longing to hear the voice of God, the book market has a growing reply: You can. And you need not confine yourself to classic scriptures that constantly are reprinted. Scholars and industry observers say readers have unmatched access today to books claiming to be divine revelation—that is,

God's own words. Some in recent years sparked sensations. Conversations with God, by Neal Walsch (Putnam, 1999), and The Celestine Prophecy, by James Redfield (Warner Books, 1997), reached best-seller lists, begot sequels, and spawned followings who saw the authors as prophets. . . .

"America . . . may be uniquely disposed now to welcome new revelations. One major reason: those Americans who no longer depend on established religious authorities for spiritual guidance. 'Religion has become deregulated,' said John Berthrong, dean of the School of Theology at Boston University and author of Boston University and author of The Divine Deli: Religious Identity in the North American Cultural Mosaic (Orbis, 2000). . . . There are, of course, examples of prophets recording revelation first and then going on to found a great movement upon the text's code for life. Muhammad founded Islam in this manner in the seventh century; Joseph Smith began Mormonism by the stone method in the 19th. Scholars tend to discount any new contenders as hopeless. 'Some of them really do become large mass movements,' Berthrong said."

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'One lone, brave star'
December 22, 2003
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