Confronting the Idols of Our Age

by Thomas P. Power (Editor)

Overview

An idol is a good thing. It is good because God created it. Nothing exists that God did not create and God created all things good. So sex can be an idol, but before it was an idol it was a good creation of God. Materialism is an idol, but to have a material world was God's idea in the first place. Workaholism is an idol, but work is itself a good gift of God. What turns these good gifts of God into idols is what we have done with them. So we have common forms of idolatry expressed in consumerism, individualism, narcissism, careerism, and hedonism; while there are less familiar expressions found in omnism, fatalism, Gnosticism, relativism, positivism, and reductionism. We have put these and other things on a pedestal and made them into mini-gods. In the end they fail to deliver what they promise. These twelve mediations on a scriptural passage by faculty members of Wycliffe College, Toronto, emphasize that the good news is that God can redeem idols. Each one can be restored to its proper place in God's created order and placed under God's authority.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781532604348
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	02/20/2017
Series:	Wycliffe Studies in Gospel, Church, and Culture
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	82
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Thomas P. Power is Adjunct Professor of Church History and Theological Librarian, Wycliffe College, Toronto.
Thomas P. Power is sessional lecturer in the history of Christianity, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. He is the author of The Apocalypse in Ireland: Prophecy and Politics in the 1820s (2022). He is general editor of the series Wycliffe Studies in History, Church, and Society.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

1 Redeeming the Idols John Bowen 1

2 Hedonism Judy Paulsen 8

3 Narcissism Peter Robinson 15

4 Individualism David Kupp 19

5 Consumerism L. Ann Jervis 26

6 Omnism Joseph Mangina 30

7 Fatalism Christopher Seitz 35

8 Careerism Thomas Power 39

9 Relativism Marion Iaylor 43

10 Gnosticism J. Glen Taylor 49

11 Positivism Alan L. Hayes 58

12 Reductiomsm Ephraim Radner 64

Bibliography 71

List of Contributors 73

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"In Confronting the Idols of Our Age, the 'isms' of our era are addressed from the perspectives of the whole range of a theological faculty, each in his or her own unique voice. It offers a clear, coherent, and evangelically informed critique, while the wit and personal address of the seminary sermon seems an especially appropriate medium for the subject. It would be well suited for a lay audience thinking about the Gospel and postmodern culture, and I commend it highly."
—George W. Sumner, Episcopal bishop of Dallas

Editorial Reviews

"In Confronting the Idols of Our Age, the 'isms' of our era are addressed from the perspectives of the whole range of a theological faculty, each in his or her own unique voice. It offers a clear, coherent, and evangelically informed critique, while the wit and personal address of the seminary sermon seems an especially appropriate medium for the subject. It would be well suited for a lay audience thinking about the Gospel and postmodern culture, and I commend it highly."
—George W. Sumner, Episcopal bishop of Dallas

From the Publisher