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We Become What We Worship ? A Biblical Theology of Idolatry

Author:	G K Beale
Published By:	Apollos/IVP (Nottingham)
Pages:	341
Price:	£14.99
ISBN:	978 1844 743148

Reviewed by Chris Skilton.

The premise of this book is an interesting one: “What we revere, we resemble, either for ruin or restoration”. Beale is a New Testament scholar, but begins his exploration from a study of Isaiah 6 and that beguiling passage that follows from the call of the prophet about the people not hearing or comprehending. Beale sees this as a set of metaphors for idolatry applied to a disobedient Israel who would be punished through their destruction for their idol worship, in the same way as the idols themselves would be destroyed. He goes on to suggest that the idolatrous nation is taunted in this chapter with the fact that they resemble their idols - becoming as spiritually deaf and blind as they are. Beale then follows this theme through Old and New Testament in meticulous detail. For instance, he reads I Corinthians 10 and Romans 1 in similar light, and it is possible to see the theme here, but I would be less convinced by his treatment of Acts 7.

The author suggests in his introduction that his intended audience is “serious Christian readers - both people in the church who are not scholars, and college or graduate theology students”. While the former may take to this in Wheaton, Illinois, where Beale works and worships, I can’t see Christian congregations in the UK picking it up. Clergy may find the thesis a helpful one to explore, but I suspect or fear may be put off by the length of his argument.

In a final chapter, applying the concept to the Christian church today, there are some salutary warnings that are worth heeding about the danger of a Christian faith that puts too much focus on “what Jesus can do for me and how he can improve my life”. However, I think that for British readers, Rob Bell and Jim Wallis say this from the States with more power and incisiveness. Readers of Ministry Today may be especially interested in the pot-shots that he goes on to take at the Leadership journal for its focus on using tools from management theory to help equip church leaders and for its apparent neglect of scripture. For Beale, this is “the development of solutions to life’s predicaments according to human wisdom and not God’s”.  I suspect that despite the worthy aim, this book will largely preach to the converted.