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As the story reaches its climax, a small, elderly black woman in a turquoise Sunday suit rises from her seat and claps her hands. "Yes!" she shouts with the joy of one who likes a good testimony. The audience claps approvingly.

These two incidents—the New York memorial service and Oprah's informal testimony time with her studio audience—illustrate the blurring of the popular and pastoral, the self-help and the sacred, in the woman who is Oprah.

In the 16 years since The Oprah Show began syndication, Oprah Winfrey has evolved from a chatty talk show host with down-home sensibility into a "one-woman brand name" whose business acumen has allowed her to become one of the richest and most influential people in the world. Since 1986 her show, which is now seen in 112 countries, has been a perennial champion in the daytime ratings. Juggling it, her book club, her Web site, her Angel Network benevolence fund, her series of television movies, O: The Oprah Magazine, and the Oxygen cable channel, Oprah is clearly one of the most influential media figures in the world.

But her effect extends beyond media. She is a force that has permeated the way we think about culture and interpersonal communication. The Wall Street Journal coined the word Oprahfication to describe "public confession as a form of therapy." Jet magazine uses Oprah as a verb: "I didn't want to tell her, but. … she Oprah'd it out of me." Politicians now hold "Oprah-style" town meetings to gauge the mood of their constituents.

Since 1994, when she abandoned traditional talk-show fare for more edifying content, and 1998, when she began "Change Your Life TV," Oprah's most significant role has become that of spiritual leader. To her audience of more than 22 million mostly female viewers, she has become a postmodern priestess—an icon of church-free spirituality.

"Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any university president, politician, or religious leader, except perhaps the Pope," noted a 1994 Vanity Fair article. Indeed, much like a healthy church, Oprah creates community, provides information, and encourages people to evaluate and improve their lives.

Oprah's brand of spirituality cannot simply be dismissed as superficial civil religion or so much New Age psychobabble, either. It goes much deeper. The story of her personal journey to worldwide prominence could be viewed as a window into American spirituality at the beginning of the 21st century—and into the challenges it poses for the church.

Vernon Winfrey remembers parts of this story. He first met his daughter —the child of a brief affair he had at 21 while on Army leave—when she was 8 years old. Oprah Gail Winfrey was born January 29, 1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi, where she lived on a tiny farm with her mother, Vernita, and grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee. Vernita found work cleaning homes in Milwaukee and sent for the little girl when she was 6 but found that she did not have room or money to care for Oprah and her younger half-sister. So Vernon drove up from his home in Nashville to pick up his daughter.

By then, her life had already been deeply influenced by the church. In fact, her unique name is actually a misspelling of Orpah, the daughter-in-law of Naomi, mentioned in Ruth 1:14. Hattie Mae taught Oprah to read the Bible, and because she had few playmates, Oprah says, she spent most of her time reading Bible stories to the barnyard animals.

Her grandmother taught her several lessons about God and faith, but one in particular stands out in her mind: "I remember when I was 4 watching my grandma boil clothes in a huge iron pot," Oprah has said. "I was crying, and Grandma asked, 'What's the matter with you, girl?' 'Big Mammy,' I sobbed, 'I'm going to die someday.' 'Honey,' she said, 'God don't mess with his children. You gotta do a lot of work in your life and not be afraid. The strong have got to take care of the others.' I soon came to realize that my grandmother was loosely translating from the epistle of Romans in the New Testament—'We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak' (15:1). Despite my age, I somehow grasped the concept. I knew I was going to help people, that I had a higher calling, so to speak."

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April 1 2002, Vol. 46, No. 4