NCLA Review - Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard of Eckart Tolle and his wildly popular and Oprah approved book, A New Earth. I was given a copy by a friend some time ago, and spent about an hour scanning through it. That was all the time it took to know that Tolle is simply the newest self-styled New Age guru, whose teachings are a mishmash of Buddhism, Gnosticism, spiritualism and narcissism. I put the book aside. Richard Abanes, a bestselling author in his own right, has written a Christian response to Tolle's work , focusing much of the time on Tolle's misinterpretations of Scripture, which are many. While Abanes comes at things from a conservative evangelical perspective, and is somewhat strident in his tone, he makes many good points, relentlessly exposing A New Earth as not only misleading, but dangerous, both personally and theologically. Should you purchase this book? Well, if there are persons in your congregation who are convinced Tolle is on to something, or if you have a copy of A New Earth in your library, then you probably should. If it's not an issue, I would leave sleeping dogs lie. Rating: 2 —WS. 190p, paper, Bethany 2008, 11.99 [204.4] ( )