Yale Professor Believes Oprah Winfrey Is a Religious Icon

By John Mitchell Posted Apr 22nd 2011 11:42AM

Many people joke about Oprah Winfrey's saintly nature, and the Queen of Talk has indeed used her show as something of a pulpit, preaching the importance of "being your best self." So it was only a matter of time before a bona fide brainiac conducted a study to prove what we already know: Oprah is a religious icon.

Yale professor Kathryn Lofton writes in her new book, 'Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon,' that Winfrey's message -- that you don't have to be perfect though you should work toward being the best you can be, which she calls "The Gospel of You" -- is tantamount to a working religion, according to the New York Post.

Lofton claims to have studied the transcripts for nearly every episode of Winfrey's show for the last 12 years -- over 1,560 of them -- as well as 105 issues of O magazine, 17 issues of O at Home, 68 books from Oprah's Book Club and 52 Spirit Newsletters.

She believes that Winfrey utilizes the same rhythmic speech patterns used by southern preachers and employs a sermon-like structure for each show, and that over the years the combination of those things and her message that "your discovery of yourself as the source for change -- in yourself and in the world" is effectively a sort of gospel.

"Gospel is a word that means 'good news,' " Lofton says. "Oprah says that the good news is 'you,'" Lofton told the Post.

Tags: oprah winfrey

Comments

(56)

Saturday 23 April

By Rainy-season afro-armpit winner: Massive Afro Marvin

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If Oprah has done one thing, it is redefine the Stretch Mark.

Tuesday 26 April

By bangagong

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You know, it may be just as valid to say Jesus was the Oprah of his day.

Friday 29 April

By Cindy

Religious icon? Hardly! Oprah sat in Rev Wright's racist church for 20 years listening to the man spew on about the evils of white America and she's a saint? Only in academia would such stupidity even get publicity. The land of the absurd thinks Oprah is religion icon. Much of America just thinks her a racist witch.

Friday 06 May

By porch

shes a monkey

By janet

She is just a lucky person who made it big, and then tanked because she fancied herself as a political advisor...After her support for Obama, her future took a decided DOWNTURN, and her OWN network is just there...NOTHING SPECIAL!

Saturday 07 May

By Cathy

Oprah may speak like a southern minister, but that hardly makes her a religious icon! Her show began good, but over time it's gotten really old.

Sunday 08 May

By Michael

she makes me want to throw-up!!!

By Robert

Oprah bought a president... and, she will do it again. Color is her claim to fame, and if it happens to be her color, she will spend what it takes to put that color in the White (ha) House. This woman is one rascist, who; through the guise of money and trinkets for her audience promotes her "color agenda".

By ps7603

Someone please get Jesse James a date with Lorena Bobbit and that will finally get him out of the news and he can live happly with that "W" he is so happy with.

By e.carlson

Yale should be ashamed that one of their professors should be writing such pure crap.

Monday 09 May

By carl

i think OPRAH thinks she's a religious icon........ that SHE believes SHE possesses the one true word and the one true way to enlightenment...look how she poses for pictures.........if she would just put on a really, really big hat, i think she might think she's a pope or a cardinal or something...... i've thought that about her for years, and i've only watched about ten seconds of her stupid mouthings on her overrated show.........i understand she has lots of devoted followers.....people who have no opinions and don't know how to form them need the oprahs.........and popes.............and rabbis..........in this world.........

By Mr Remo 4

First of all once you reach a certain level your trust level is very low,i do agree she can do more here,but she does have a school here in here home town in Ms.We weren't there,we don't know what she went through to get where she is,people get very jealous when you doing something positive that there're not doing,i'm not even there yet,but people think i am and it's crazy the way they act,always wanting something for nothing,never wanting to work hard for it,so Oprah,do what you do.(GET RICH OR STAY BROKE)

By Peter

Now you know whats wrong with ivy league educations.. the idiots are running the asylum. What a kook!

Wednesday 11 May

By Eija

Yes, Oprah is racist, but no icon in any sense of the word. she has given millions to her followers, but that does not constitude a title "icon". As someone mentioned, she is a business woman thru and thru. Perhaps her give aways was to insure those same people that adore her now will follow her to her OWN network. To me her platanly racist attitude was so much turn off, I literally turned TV off, instead of watching her fawn over blacks and staring coldly at any white person. It was purely disgusting.

By machete

Religious, and cultural ICON?, PLEASE! give me a break. That yale person must be one of the recipients of Oprah's money.

By straycat68

oprah and dr. phil two of the greatest con artists this country has ever produced.

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