Elements of Religious Criticism in the Zeitgeist Movement

This paper is a reaction to a contemporary challenge proposed
by the Zeitgeist movement, made famous by the two homonymous
documentaries. It is a materialist movement, which intends to build the ideal
society by eliminating the religious factor. This ideology contains implicit
religious aspects and thus it is in fact a religious alternative specific to presentday
society.
In Zeitgeist. The Movie two other forms of religious criticism are
presented. Theism is criticized from the perspective of experiential elements
specific to non-Theism, and secondly the personality of Jesus Christ is
questioned. An astrological pattern is applied to the God-Man and thus His
specific complexity is reduced to the level of a mere natural phenomenon.
This paper investigates the information sources used in the film, analyzes
the argument and the hermeneutic act. Reductionist interpretations are
corrected and supplemented for the sake of authenticity. The various issues
raised by Zeitgeist receive answers based on up-to-date research in the history
of religions, and basic principles of Christian theology.