{"product_id":"idolatry-9780674443136","title":"Idolatry","description":"\u003cp\u003eYou shall have no other gods besides Me. This injunction  handed down through Moses three thousand years ago  marks one of the most decisive shifts in Western culture: away from polytheism toward monotheism. Despite the momentous implications of such a turn  the role of idolatry in giving it direction and impetus is little understood. This book examines the meaning and nature of idolatryand  in doing so  reveals much about the monotheistic tradition that defines itself against this sin. The authors consider Christianity and Islam  but focus primarily on Judaism. They explore competing claims about the concept of idolatry that emerges in the Hebrew Bible as a whoring after false gods. Does such a description  grounded in an analogy of sexual relations  presuppose the actual existence of other gods with whom someone might sin? Or are false gods the product of mens hands  simply a matter of misguided belief? The authors show how this debate  over idolatry as practice or error  has taken shape and has in turn shaped the course of Western thoughtfrom the differentiation between Jewish and Christian conceptions of God to the distinctions between true and false belief that inform the tradition of religious enlightenment. Ranging with authority from the Talmud to Maimonides  from Marx to Nietzsche and on to G.E. Moore  this brilliant account of a subject central to our culture also has much to say about metaphor  myth  and the application of philosophical analysis to religious concepts and sensibilities. Its insights into pluralism and intolerance  into the logic and illogic of the arguments religions aim at each other  make Idolatry especially timely and valuable in these days of dark and implacable religious difference.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45666091630645,"sku":"ByrdShop_0674443136","price":75.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780674443136.jpg?v=1782418990","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/idolatry-9780674443136","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}