The cover of ‘‘The Spiritual Virtuoso’ by Marion Goldman and Steven Plaff intriguingly features both Martin Luther and Steve Jobs.

What these two men have in common, according to sociologists Marion Goldman and Steven Plaff, is that they are both spiritual virtuosi, by which they mean that they are persons “absolutely dedicated to expanding their own religious talents and pursuing complete connection with a Higher Power.”

This description obviously fits Luther but is it really an appropriate description of Jobs? Goldman and Plaff have no problem bestowing this title on the co-founder of Apple on the strength of his dabbling in spiritual matters “through LSD trips, primal screams, … spiritual tourism in India” and the like. It may be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God but Goldman and Plaff’s concept of spiritual virtuoso sets the bar so low that any superannuated hippie would seem to qualify.

Perhaps for this reason Goldman and Plaff tell us that spiritual virtuosi can “unleash personal and social transformations” and they explore three, namely, the Reformation, the Antislavery Movement and the Human Potential Movement.

If, like me before reading this book, you’d never heard of the latter, you might think that they’re almost as strange bedfellows as Luther and Jobs.

Having now learned that the Human Potential Movement was “a loose configuration of groups that came together in the mid-twentieth century to try to implement spiritual, psychological and social transformations” I am still not convinced that it deserves to be elevated to stand alongside the Reformation and the Antislavery Movement. Yes, all three can very loosely be said to stand for what might be termed the democratization of spiritual experience but the impact of the Human Potential Movement is miniscule compared to the other two, even if Jobs is counted as a one-time adherent.

The authors are clearly excited by the fact that spirituality has continued to manifest itself despite the onset of what they term “vapid secularization” and the decline of institutionalized religion but a ‘church’, like theirs, broad enough to include Martin Luther, Steve Jobs, William Wilberforce, William Lloyd Garrison, George Leonard, John and Charles Wesley, and Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf Islam) can only be serviced by woolly language and nebulous generalizations.

This is not a book for which I feel I can give even two cheers but doubtless its authors can discern the sound of one hand clapping.