Idolatry
The idolatry is the worship of an image , an idea or object. The Abrahamic religions are in opposition to the worship of a supreme being, and condemn. Some groups and religious leaders have used the term to refer to the stigmatizing of their different religions.
Summary |
Etymology
The name idolatry comes (by haplologie ) word of Greek eidololatria, consisting of eidolon, "image" or "representation" and latreia, "worship". Although the Greek term appears to be a loan to the term Hebrew avodat elilim, which appears in rabbinic literature (eg. bChul., 13b, Bar.), the Greek term itself is not in the Septuagint , Philo of Alexandria , Flavius Josephus and other Hellenistic Jewish writings. It does not appear in pagan Greek literature. In the New Testament , the Greek word is only found in the Epistles of Paul , the First Epistle of Peter and the Apocalypse , where it has a pejorative meaning. The Hebrew terms for idolatry are, among others, Avodah zarah (foreign worship) and avodat Kochavim umazalot (worship of planets and constellations).
In the Hebrew Bible
According to the Hebrew Bible , idolatry originated at the time of Eber , although some interpretations rather designate the time Serug ; icon veneration existed at the time of Jacob , according to the account of Rachel taking icons with her leaving the house of his father, as reported in the book of Genesis. The father of Abraham , Terah , was both a sculptor and worshiper of idols. When Abraham discovered the true God, he destroyed the idols of his father (cf. Terah for this story).
The commandments of the Hebrew Bible opposed to idolatry forbade the beliefs and practices of pagans who lived amongst the Israelites at that time, especially the religions of ancient Akkad , of Mesopotamia , and Egypt.
Some of these religions, according to the Bible, preached practices banned by Jewish law, such as ritual intercourse, prostitution, male and female ritual, the gift of a child through a pile to Moloch , and the sacrifice of children.
There is no way that clearly defines idolatry; found rather a number of commands on the subject scattered in different books of the Hebrew Bible, some of them having been written at different historical periods in response to different problems. If one combines these verses, idolatry in the Hebrew Bible can be defined according to one of the following ways:
- The worship of idols (or images);
- The worship of polytheistic gods through idols (or images);
- The worship of animals or people;
- The use of idols to worship God.
The last category, the use of idols to worship God, is the basis of strict monotheism Judaist. At various times the Hebrew Bible specifies that God has no form, so no idol or image can make the essence of God. For example, when the Israelites to attend an appearance of God in Deut. 4:25, they receive no visible form. Many Bible verses make use of anthropomorphism to describe God (eg. God's hand, the finger of God, etc..), But these verses have always been understood as poetic images rather than literal descriptions.
The Bible reflects the conflict between the prophet and his attempt to spread pure monotheism on the one hand, and the tendency of some people, especially leaders like Ahab , to accept or even encourage the polytheistic beliefs or idolatrous. The patriarch Abraham was called to spread the true knowledge of God, but the books of the prophets still reflect a continuing struggle against idolatry. For example, the biblical prophet Jeremiah laments: "For thou hast many gods as cities, O Judah" (2:28).
The Bible contains numerous terms related to idolatry, and their use reflects the horror which she met the authors of the Bible. (Adherents of Jewish faith believe that the Torah is the literal word of God and eternal.) Thus the idols are described as "not God" , "vain" "guilty" ), "a vain breath" , "dead" , "corpses" , "the lie" , and other similar epithets.
Pagan idols are described as being made of gold, silver, wood and stone. They are stated to be the result of the work of one man's hand, unable to speak, see, hear, smell, eat, grasp or feel, and powerless to harm or help anyone.
The idols were designated by a Hebrew term meaning general or so were named according to the material used or design technique. It is said that they were placed on pedestals, and maintained by silver chains or iron nails to prevent them from falling or being stolen (Isa. 40:19, 41:7, Jer. 10: 14; Wisdom 13:15), and also they were dressed and painted (Jer. 10:9; ezek. 16:18; Wisdom 15:4).
At first the gods and their images were perceived as a unit, but later a distinction was made between the god and his image. Nevertheless the custom of carrying the gods of the conquered survived (Isa. 10:10-11, 36:19, 46:1, Jer. 48:7, 49:3, Hosea 10:5, Dan. 11:8), and a similar practice is frequently mentioned in the cuneiform texts.
The idolatrous worship of idols they really?
The idolaters of biblical times they believed that they worshiped idols were real gods or spirits, or they considered as representations of gods or spirits? The Bible does not clarify this point and apparently banished such beliefs and practices in both forms (according to some interpretations).
Yehezkel Kaufman made the suggestion that the biblical authors interpreted idolatry in its most literal form: according to the Bible, most idolatrous truly believed that their idols were gods. Kaufman's view is that the biblical authors made the mistake of assuming that all idolatry was of this type, when in fact in some cases, the idols could only have been representations of gods. Kaufman writes that "We can perhaps say that the Bible sees paganism as its lowest level, the level of belief in mana ... prophets ignore what we know of the true paganism (ie, its elaborate mythology about the origins and exploits of the gods and their ultimate submission to a reservoir meta-divine powers representing the impersonal Fate or Necessity .) The sentence imposed by the biblical authors is centered on the sarcasm of fetishism. "
However, Kaufman says that in some passages, some biblical authors understood that the idolaters worshiped idols and not themselves but the gods and spirits whose existence was independent of idols. For example, in a passage from 1 Kings 6:27 p.m. Does the Israelites were henotheism? The ancient Israelites were they henotheism at one time? According to many contemporary scholars of religion, certain narratives of Genesis presupposes monotheism, while others indicate the henotheism. The Judaism strongly prohibits any form of idolatry, and says that idolatry is not limited to the worship of idols in themselves, but also to the worship of God through artistic representation. Judaism maintains that any belief or practice that interferes significantly with the relationship between a Jew and God may at some level, be described as idolatry. The proper Jewish definition of idolatry is the veneration of a star (as the Sun or the Moon) or something (water, sheep, etc.) instead of recognizing the power of the One God Who created all these things. It is considered a grave insult to God to worship one of His creations rather than Him. Non-Jews also revere the ban more than one god or a divine object or a person not by the Laws of Noah. The views Christian on idolatry may be divided into two main categories. The prospect Catholic and Orthodox (not necessarily limited to Orthodox communions Eastern Europe or the Orient, and which may be complicated somewhat if we add the Anglicans and Methodists in the discussion) and the prospect fundamentalist. Groups Puritans and Protestants have adopted a similar approach to that of Islam , denouncing all forms of religious representation, be it in two or three dimensions. The origin of the problem is a difference of interpretation of the Decalogue more known as the Ten Commandments : (Exodus 20:3-6). Roman Catholics and Orthodox churches cite the work of St John of Damascus "Discourse on the images" to justify the use of icons. He wrote in response to the iconoclastic controversy that began in the eighth century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Leo III and continued by his successor Constantine V. St John admits that the representation of the invisible God is at fault but that of the incarnation in which "the Word became flesh" (John 1:14), the invisible God became visible and, therefore, it is allowed to represent Jesus Christ. He argues: "Where is He who is bodiless and without form ... exists in the form of God, and embodied in the form of a servant in substance and in stature as is found in bodies of flesh, then we can draw His image ... " He also notes that in the Old Testament, pictures and statues were not consistently condemned and can cite as examples the graven images of cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant or the bronze serpent mentioned in the book of Numbers. It also justifies the external marks of respect for the icons on the basis that there are "different forms of worship" and that the respect shown to an icon is totally different from the worship of God. He goes on to cite examples from the Old Testament: " Jacob knelt to the ground before Esau , his brother, and also before the tip of the baton to his son Joseph (Genesis 33:3). He knelt but not worshiped. Joshua, the son of Nun, and Daniel knelt in reverence before an angel of God (Joshua 5:14) but they did not worshiped. Because worship is one thing and what which is offered as a token of respect to honor something of great value is another. " He cites St. Blaise says: "The respect given to an image is transmitted to its model. St. John argues that while the veneration paid to an image of Christ does not stop there - the substance of the image is not the subject of veneration - but goes beyond the image to its model. Previously, 599 and 600, following the destruction of images in churches by Bishop Serenus of Marseille, Saint Gregory the Great had condemned this attitude and, after Basil the Great (329-379), Gregory Nazianzen ( 330-390), Gregory of Nyssa (335-394) and Paulinus of Nola (353-431), had included in his letters to Serenus of Marseille that the images were useful for those who could not read the books. But Gregory the Great stated that the bishop should teach that images can not be adored. Theology Christian asks proselytizing , the transmission of faith through conversion using missionaries. This often causes conflict with religions pagan and other Christian groups who used images in one way or another in their religious practices. Fundamentalist Protestants often accuse Catholic and Orthodox Christians of traditionalism , of idolatry, paganism and iconolatry for not "serving their faith" of the use of images. The Catholic and Orthodox Christians use various religious objects such as icons , the incense , the Gospel , the Bible , of candles and religious clothing. The icons are mostly in two and more rarely in three dimensions. by dogmatic theory, these objects are venerated as filled with the grace and power divine - (hence the Orthodox Eastern Europe consider they are not "empty forms" and therefore are not idols ). It may, in their view, finding evidence of the use of such objects in the Old Testament and among The marks of veneration of the form latrea (the reverence due to God) are forbidden by the orthodox doctrine, but the veneration of religious images or icons in the form doulea is not only permissible but obligatory. The distinction between these different levels of worship, which is very technical and few discernible in terms of actual practices, is generally obscure to the average observer. This distinction is preserved and taught by the faithful through prayers and hymns that are sung throughout the liturgical year. In the apology Orthodox icons, a parallel is drawn between the icons and shaping the brazen serpent by Moses (under the command of God), that snake was custodian of grace and divine power to heal those who were bitten by real snakes. "Moses made a bronze snake and put him on a pole, and whoever was bitten by a snake, and beheld the serpent of brass, life." (Numbers 21:9). Other parallels are made with the ark of the covenant described as a ritual object over which Yahweh was present (Numbers 10:33-36), or the burning bush , which, according to Exodus, God allowed to speak to Moses or the Ten Commandments were God's word " Dabar Elohim "in the form of tablets. These objects inanimate became mediums through which God taught, spoke to the faithful, encouraged and healed them. The veneration of icons as latrea was codified in the Second Council of Nicaea during the Byzantine iconoclastic controversy. Icon veneration is also practiced by the Catholic Church that adheres to the statement of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, but it is less practiced, modern Catholics do not generally engaged in prostration and kissing icons, and more of the Council Vatican II recommended restraint in the use of images. The Catholic Eastern Rite , however, still use icons in their liturgy. Most Protestant groups avoid the use of images in any immediate context of worship. Protestantism has seen since its inception images as subjects of inspiration and education rather than veneration and worship. Icons can occasionally be spotted in some religious communities ranked as Anglicans, but are not considered or used in a way comparable to what is found among the Orthodox, and their presence is sometimes controversial. Some very conservative Protestant groups avoid any use of religious images even for inspiration and education in order not to encourage what they consider idolatry. Other biblical texts against the idols: The Islam prohibits idolatry and polytheism. Most branches of Islam forbid any artistic representations of the human person portrayed , including those of the prophet Muhammad, calling them Shirk , whose original meaning is "association," the sin of associating another being in one God, Allah. This is considered akin to idolatry. In addition, images of God are totally banned by most branches of Islam, imposing absolute monotheism in Islam and trying to eliminate all forms of idolatry. These words are used by most Muslims as approximate synonyms or translations of idolaters and idolatry, Is sin any transgression to one of the first commandments. This sin is particularly serious when it comes to First Command. For Christians , idolatry is a sin by superstition goes against the first commandment , and worship God. Defined by the papal bull Divina Gratia , idolatry is the belief, teaching and observation of a cult , veneration or religious respect other related to an idea, practice, superstition, personality, living or deceased which are not of the Catholic faith or accepted by it. The Bible and the Church are examples of idolatry: For the Church, idolatry is not limited to the worship of pagan statues as traditional imagery might suggest. Idolize anything, it would take so immoderate up neglecting God, considered by Catholicism as the only one worthy of worship. For example, a person who spends his time thinking about money, earn money and neglects God will be considered idolatrous. Currently, the Church strongly condemns such idolatry (money, sports, entertainment, television, tobacco, ...). The charge of theological practice the idolatry of religious icons has provided the pretext for the Catholic Church to ransack the houses of worship to Byzantium on the occasion of the Fourth Crusade. See: Art in the Latin interlude. According to Islam , idolatry ( shirk ) or polytheism is the first sin. It is the worship of other gods than Allah (Sura 4.48,137; sura 47.34). This sin is unforgivable (more precisely, do not die in that state of sin) and is the only sin that may not be called Muslim. An interesting aspect of Islam is its insistence on the refusal of any representation of God or his creation (while Judaism may represent products of creation: lion, candlestick, cup ...). Although some Islamic traditions can tolerate the performance, the most common practice is (are) the ban. This led to a particularly rich artistic tradition in which abstraction, pure form and non-representation - far from stifling constraints - have led to forms of graphic art very rich and almost completely specific including calligraphy Arabic. The word idolatry idolize and the verb is rarely used outside the religious context. For cons, the word idol is over. Refer to this section for examples. Examples: In Jewish thought
In Christian thought
Gregory the Great identified three roles to the images in his two letters to Serenus: In Islamic thought
Religion
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Example of use in the French language
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