RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Idealism Idolatry
A. Vierkandt, Naturvolker und Kulturvblker, Leipsic, 1896; C. F. d'Aroy, Idealism and Theology, ib. 1899; T. Ziegler, Die geistigen und sozialen Stromungen, Berlin, 1899; A. R. Darron, in Ideal Review, July, 1901; H. Sturt, Personal Idealism, London, 1902; W. R. Inge, Personal Idealism and Mysticism, London, 1907; H. Hughes, Ideen und Ideale, Wiirzburg, 1907; I. W. Riley, American Philosophy, pp. 61 sqq., New York, 1907; F. J. Schmidt, Zur Wiedergeburt des Idealismus, Leipsic, 1907.
IDIOMATA. See Communicatio Idiomatum.
IDOLATRY: In this article Idolatry means not so much the worship of images (see Images and Image Worship) as the worship Early of other than the national God of Divine the Hebrews. The oneness of God, Names through which objects of religious and Con- regard outside of himself are conceived ceptions. as idols, is at the first glance the distinguishing characteristic of Old-Testament religion. It is this also which binds together the great monotheistic religions of the world and guarantees them their place in the science of the spirit over against the natural science of religion. The Old Testament does not regard this as a new idea in Mosaic times, but as then associated with the name of Yahweh, the God who had led Israel out of Egypt. It is this conception of unity which must be kept constantly in the mind in making the demarcation between worship of God and of idols in the New-Testament sense. From this standpoint the old name Elohim was inappropriately kept in use in the Old Testament for Yahweh, and no difficulty was felt by the writer of Gen. ii. 4 sqq. in employing the term Yahweh-Elohim. The " Fear " whom Isaac invoked (Gen. xxxi. 42, 53, R.V.) was the forefathers' God whom the children call Yahweh. And while the priestly historian of the past uses with force the name El Shaddai as preceding the use of Yahweh (Ex. vi. 3, cf. Gen. xvii. 1), the identification of the Canaanitic El Elyon with Yahweh is explicit in the mouth of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 22). These combinations with the word El express generally the idea of divinity. A similar content is implied in the other Semitic names for God as Lord (see Baal) or as king (see Moloch), which in the beginning of the Yahweh religion were ethically inapplicable to Yahweh. The protest of Hosea and of Jeremiah are marked against the ideas which were bound up in the application of these names to Yahweh.
But ever stronger appears the revulsion against the worship of other gods which the worship of the one true God caused as their irrecon- Native cilable opposition to his unity ap- Conceptions peared and they were rejected as Dangerous heathenish. That this took its roots to the Idea in the popular religion of Israel appears of Oneness, from the fact that personal names from the time of Joshua nowhere contain the names of heathen deities, and are for the most part compounded with the name of Yahweh or with what were regarded as equivalents, Adhon, Baal, Melekh, or Zur. But among the neighboring peoples deity had been split up into a large number of deities, a process which might easily have been accomplished in Israel. Patriarchal narratives knew of an El of Beth-el, an El-'Olam of Beer-sheba,
an El Elyon and an El Shaddai; Moses built an altar to Yahweh Nissi and Gideon one to Yahweh 'Olam, Abraham's offering was to Yahweh Yireh, and Absalom had a vow to " Yahweh- in-Hebron." The keen insight of the prophets discerned the danger in this apparent multiplicity, and the formula in Deut. vi. 4 is aimed not so much at any plurality as at the possible splitting of the personality of Yahweh into many gods. With this went the protest in the northern kingdom against the mixing of the names of Baal and Yahweh which might produce a confusion with the Baalim of the heathen, instanced in the substitution of Bosheth, " shame," for Baal (see Baal). Similar in intent was the campaign against the high places (q.v.).
Not less dangerous than this possible dissolution of the unity of Yahweh from within was the obtrusion from without of the survivals External of nature religion in the form of wor- Dangers ship of stones of various sorts (see Menacing Memorials and Sacred Stones) Unity. which were associated with the worship paid by the patriarchs, Moses, Joshua, and Samuel. How strong a vehicle for an evil syncretism these objects might become is recognized in such passages as Micah v. 13; Deut. vii. 5; Lev. xxvi. 30. With these must be mentioned the Asherah (q.v.), which, as the usual accompaniment of the Canaanitic altars, had gained entrance into the Hebrew cult, and was found even in the temple (II Kings xxi. 7), and obscene figures (I Kings xv. 13). A similar danger arose from the groves and from the tree-cult (see Groves and Trees, Sacred) so often brought into connection with the patriarchs and with later leaders (e.g., Gen. xiii. 18; Judges iv. 5, vi. 11) and equally with Canaanitic cults (Gen. xii. 6), betraying a community of worship in earlier times. Against this such protests were filed as that in Hos. iv. 13. Other indications of syncretism are found in the sacred prostitution of males and females (I Kings xiv. 24) , which even entered the temple (II Kings xxiii. 7), in selfmutilation (see Mutilations, I Kings xviii. 28), and in the offering of children in sacrifice (II Kings xvi. 3). Indeed, the Old Testament is full of testimony to the fact that the people of Yahweh, even while recognizing itself as such a people, was at times open to the allurements offered either by the indulgence or the ritualistic abstinence fostered by the native cults about it. This tendency is registered early in the history by such passages as Judges x. 6. Yet that the great number of place names in Palestine derived from the names of heathen deities indicates always Israelitic worship of idols in those places is more than the facts warrant. The Amarna tablets prove that these names are the legacy of a period anterior to that of the Judges in a land already thickly populated. Still, the earlier material in the Book of Judges proves that in ancient times the people indulged in practises which were not merely debased forms of Yahweh worship, but were lapses into practise of Canaanitic cults. The effect of the establishment of the kingdom was the realization of a fact known before, the national character of the worship of Yahweh.
Idolatry Ignatius