We Become What We Worship: a Biblical Theology of Idolatry
We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry Book Review
Overall I am very impressed with the book, We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry by G.K. Beale, and would certainly recommend it to theologians in the academy as well as those in the ministry or preparing to serve. While this book will not be for everyone due to its length and sometimes dense exegetical analysis of selected texts, Beale does a superb job explaining his thesis throughout his work by means of tracing “one particular aspect of idolatry as it is sometimes developed in Scripture.” Therefore this book is interested only in one particular strand of Scripture as traced throughout the Old and New Testaments, rather than a Biblical or systematic theology of idolatry. And so immediately following, Beale lays out his thesis of “What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or restoration,” by making the assertion that we are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26). We, therefore, are beings made to reflect God and His glory; however, if we do not commit ourselves to Him we will reflect something else in creation. This understanding is central in order to understand Beale’s thesis because at the heart of it, we are reflecting beings, either reflecting God or something else in creation. This is how Beale lays out the two competing understandings of one revering God for their restoration or one revering something in creation to their ruin in a juxtapositional dichotomy (p. 16). To aid in understanding idolatry more clearly, Beale uses Luther’s Large Catechism explanation of the first commandment in Exodus 20:3, and agrees with him in “whatever your heart clings to and relies upon, that is your God,” with the addition of “whatever your heart clings to for ultimate security” (p 17). This of course is a move Lutherans would naturally agree with.
As Beale continues, he refreshingly provides his theological presuppositions in a straight forward manner
Overall I am very impressed with the book, We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry by G.K. Beale, and would certainly recommend it to theologians in the academy as well as those in the ministry or preparing to serve. While this book will not be for everyone due to its length and sometimes dense exegetical analysis of selected texts, Beale does a superb job explaining his thesis throughout his work by means of tracing “one particular aspect of idolatry as it is sometimes developed in Scripture.” Therefore this book is interested only in one particular strand of Scripture as traced throughout the Old and New Testaments, rather than a Biblical or systematic theology of idolatry. And so immediately following, Beale lays out his thesis of “What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or restoration,” by making the assertion that we are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26). We, therefore, are beings made to reflect God and His glory; however, if we do not commit ourselves to Him we will reflect something else in creation. This understanding is central in order to understand Beale’s thesis because at the heart of it, we are reflecting beings, either reflecting God or something else in creation. This is how Beale lays out the two competing understandings of one revering God for their restoration or one revering something in creation to their ruin in a juxtapositional dichotomy (p. 16). To aid in understanding idolatry more clearly, Beale uses Luther’s Large Catechism explanation of the first commandment in Exodus 20:3, and agrees with him in “whatever your heart clings to and relies upon, that is your God,” with the addition of “whatever your heart clings to for ultimate security” (p 17). This of course is a move Lutherans would naturally agree with.
As Beale continues, he refreshingly provides his theological presuppositions in a straight forward manner