Identity and Idolatry: The Image of God and Its Inversion (New Studies in Biblical Theology), by Richard Lints
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Identity and Idolatry: The Image of God and Its Inversion (New Studies in Biblical Theology), by Richard Lints
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One of Desiring God's Top 15 Books of 2015 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27) Genesis 1:26-27 has served as the locus of most theological anthropologies in the central Christian tradition. However, Richard Lints observes that too rarely have these verses been understood as conceptually interwoven with the whole of the prologue materials of Genesis 1. The construction of the cosmic temple strongly hints that the "image of God" language serves liturgical functions. Lints argues that "idol" language in the Bible is a conceptual inversion of the "image" language of Genesis 1. These constructs illuminate each other, and clarify the canon’s central anthropological concerns. The question of human identity is distinct, though not separate, from the question of human nature; the latter has far too frequently been read into the biblical use of ‘image’. Lints shows how the "narrative" of human identity runs from creation (imago Dei) to fall (the golden calf/idol, Exodus 32) to redemption (Christ as perfect image, Colossians 1:15-20). The biblical-theological use of image/idol is a thread through the canon that highlights the movements of redemptive history. In the concluding chapters of this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume, Lints interprets the use of idolatry as it emerges in the secular prophets of the nineteenth century, and examines the recent renaissance of interest in idolatry with its conceptual power to explain the "culture of desire." Addressing key issues in biblical theology, the works comprising New Studies in Biblical Theology are creative attempts to help Christians better understand their Bibles. The NSBT series is edited by D. A. Carson, aiming to simultaneously instruct and to edify, to interact with current scholarship and to point the way ahead.
Identity and Idolatry: The Image of God and Its Inversion (New Studies in Biblical Theology), by Richard Lints - Amazon Sales Rank: #215658 in Books
- Published on: 2015-09-10
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .57" w x 5.50" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 192 pages
Identity and Idolatry: The Image of God and Its Inversion (New Studies in Biblical Theology), by Richard Lints Review "In Identity and Idolatry, Richard Lints shows himself to be an exceptional thinker who combines the sensitivities of a theologian with that of a philosopher and interpreter of the Bible. He not only speaks of ideas in the abstract but shows how these ideas forge the way we think and act. I recommend this book to all thoughtful Christians." (Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College)"Begin with the imago Dei. . . . Work that out across the canon, and you discover that light shines on many topics, not least the nature of idolatry. This book manages to blend some elements of systematic theology with careful biblical theology to produce a study that is wonderfully evocative." (D. A. Carson)"This is an outstanding read and I heartily recommend it to you. Rather than treating various aspects of human nature as so many other theological anthropologies do (body, soul, spirit, mind, emotions, will, et al.), this is a thorough treatment of human identity from the angles of systematic and biblical theology. It's about who we are versus what we are." (Paul D. Adams, In Christ Jesus, November 29, 2015)
About the Author Richard Lints (PhD, University of Notre Dame) is the Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Theology and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, he is an accomplished church planter and has served in a variety of other pastoral positions. He is a frequent preacher and conference speaker and is on the board of the Gospel Culture Center, serving as its Theologian in Residence. Lints is the author or editor of books such as Renewing the Evangelical Mission, Progressive and Conservative Religious Ideologies: The Tumultuous Decade of the 1960s, Personal Identity in Theological Perspective, The Westminster Dictionary of Key Terms in Philosophy and Their Importance in Theology and The Fabric of Theology: A Prolegomenon to Evangelical Theory. In addition to teaching at Gordon-Conwell, he has lectured at Yale Divinity School, the University of Notre Dame, Trinity College (Bristol, UK), Westminster Theological Seminary and Reformed Theological Seminary. He and his wife Ann reside in Magnolia, Massachusetts, and have three grown children.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. A Compelling Reflection on a Topic that Touches All By Paul D. Adams Lints forces us to think critically, biblically, and theologically about the logical complement to God’s image, namely, idolatry and its deleterious effects. Put differently, if the imago Dei within is not protected and nourished, then an imposter gradually takes its place and becomes the product of human hands and, tragically, we become its slave. The imago Dei becomes the imago creatio. That which gives life (the imago Dei) becomes that which has no life (imago creatio), powerless to provide the safety and security and significance that all humans long for. Israel’s creation and worship of the golden calf is prime example (Exodus 32). With theological precision Lints recounts the monumental effects of this act of disobedience.Turning to the New Testament we find that the upside down image of Adam is turned right side up in Christ Who is the “inverted idol of God” (p 123). Lints shows us that “the imago Dei attains a unique status in the person of Jesus Christ, not merely as a human but as the perfect image of God” (p 120). And carefully carving out the practical implications of these two competing images for the believer, Lints reasons from 1 Corinthians 15 (also Romans 5) that "All of humanity bears the image of Adam, the man of dust. In Adam humans inherit death as their just sentence. In the resurrection Christ’s people will bear his image, the man of heaven, and will inherit an imperishable existence. Yet strangely, on this side of paradise God’s people bear both the image of Adam and the image of Christ. These images are not mutually exclusive. This argues that ‘image’ functions not as an ontological description of one’s essence, but as a theological depiction of the divided worship of the human heart. It is the question of one’s theological identity, of where on finds significance and security." (p 123)Finally, and most importantly for that cherished (dare I say "idolized?) Westernized, individualized, privatized, customized persona, Lints argues that the biblical and theological data insists upon understanding the imago Dei as a social or relational construct. Placing the individual person within the larger community of God, Lints gives us a Trinitarian take on the “sociality” of the imago Dei. Much here that could have been explicated, but no doubt spacial limitations were at hand.There is much more in this book that is gripping (Chapter 7 is keen on the historical analysis of the message of those cultural prophets Kant, Hegel, Feurerbach, Marx, Freud, Nietzsche), so I heartily recommend this to you.
15 of 48 people found the following review helpful. Not Worth It By William H. Brown In the newest addition to the NSBT series (New Studies in Biblical Theology) Richard Lints explores the relationship between identity and idolatry, with special regard to relevancy of the topic for modern Christians and how it actually affect how Christians think. He is currently the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Hamilton Campus at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is also the Andrew Muth distinguished Professor in Theology. His focuses in philosophy and theology, apologetics, and identity, all shine through his work. Identity and Idolatry utilizes these areas to show how and why imago Dei is an absolutely formative element to establishing and maintaining Christian identity, and even humanity.He begins by providing an introduction to identity dynamics outside of a philosophical anthropological context and indicates a fundamental key that God is the triune, communal creator who is apart and unique from creation. Following he illustrates the constraints and conceptual resources viable for understanding imago Dei. He provides two important keys: Genesis is not metaphysically concerned but theologically concerned with the well-being of created community, and human identity involves the reflecting of the identity of God or idols. In his words, “the key question of the Scriptures is, what will images reflect? Will the image of God (humankind) image God” (42)?Chapters Three through Five explore the Hebrew Bible and its appropriations of imago Dei and semantically related ideas. Rooted initiates his analysis of Scripture’s view of imago Dei through the “two accounts of creation in Genesis” (43). In essence, he argues that Genesis 1:1 – 2:3 is frame for the narrator, intricacies indicate liturgical value, and Genesis 1 is presented as God’s temple-building activity. These three elements frame his following discussion about what imago Dei actually is. Imago Dei is, for Lints, most succinctly and clearly understood as a reflective and relational to Yahweh which finds parallels in ancient Near Eastern image reflections and becomes negated through the remainder of the Bible, after Genesis 1-11. Chapter Five then focuses on how the Hebrew Bible turns upside down the imago Dei, a rhetoric often accomplished by pairing imago Dei with idolatry and the prophetic stances. In short, the paramount inversion is the event of the worshipping of the golden calf at Sinai, an incident in stark contrast to God’s diatribe for relational fidelity. The relational fidelity, in which prophets claim ancient Israelite identity should be found, is the primary framework for idolatry in prophetic literature, indicative that idolatry is, in fact, an inversion of imago Dei and marring of human identity.Shifting gears to New Testament literature, Lints establishes the New Testament historical context for imago Dei and attempts to show consistent appropriations of the relation between image, idolatry, and Jesus as an inversion of the original imago Dei, with Jesus as the perfect imago Dei. The perfect image of Jesus, according to Lints, is rooted in the a triune God. Having determined the biblical theology of imago Dei, Lints delves into modern philosophy with an apologetic tone. In his brief coverage of the philosophies of Kant to Nietzsche, he expresses the development towards strong atheism that rids of God and results in a meaningless life. This development implicitly suggests the inability of modern philosophical discourse to answer pertinent questions of life and identity as it progressively established a world with no logic of the divine. Finally, Chapter Eight attempts to guide the reader to understand the purpose and significance of his whole discussion about identity and idolatry by focusing on how life’s business prevents remembrance of the importance, there is no transcendent source of reality, and an eternal, overarching story of God’s redemptive purpose must be within the theological vision of Christians. To summarize the book’s focus in one statement, Christian, and even human, identity must be shaped by God’s perspective of man as his reflection through the biblical narrative, and that narrative ought be the center of Christian communities.As the most recent addition to the NSBT series, I expected more analysis of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. Unfortunately the textual analysis, while present, was very much driven by philosophical discourse. While philosophy is essential to a well-constructed theology and does have much value, his understanding of imago Dei was seemingly shaped by his philosophizing rather than textual analysis of the Bible. Were Identity and Idolatry a philosophical-theological discussion of Scripture, it should have been specified. Yet, as a part of the NSBT series, it is almost so focused on philosophy that his conclusions seem to be defined not by the text itself, but by the philosophical assumptions.Second, Lints use of the Bible seems to use the text for pre-supposed theological stances rather allowing texts speak their own theologies as rooted in the historical context. For example, when he engages with Deutero-Isaiah, he does not take into consideration what makes it unique from proto-Isaiah. For more reliable analysis of the biblical text, his analysis should have taken seriously the internal divisions of Isaiah and historical contexts. In doing so, he could avoid questions regarding why the entire first 39 chapters of Isaiah are not in favor on all other gods as nothing. While Proto-Isaiah with no doubt encourages worship of Yahweh alone, it is only in Deutero-Isaiah that the theme of monotheism becomes present.Third, whether in his analysis of the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, or philosophy following the enlightenment, there is never clear organization. The analysis is muddled together almost with the assumption that the Bible contains a unified biblical theology. Such a claim is not honest to the text, as it assumes that each author writes to the same audiences, extent, and purposes. Rather than grouping everything together, it would have been beneficial to reflect on the meaning of each major occurrence of idolatry of identity based on its own context.Overall, Lints discussion about identity and idolatry was not incredibly convincing. His work is too apologetic in nature and is too broad scope. As an addition to the New Studies in Biblical Theology, his work should have focused on just that: biblical theology and the exegesis of biblical passages, though perhaps with nothing more than an ear to philosophy. Instead, his work focuses so much on the philosophical aspects of imago Dei that it seems to have little root in the bible itself. The majority of his arguments feel forced and do not flow naturally. And while there are little intriguing tidbits here and there, his work is not convincing and does not contribute significantly to the field of biblical theology.
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Identity and Idolatry: The Image of God and Its Inversion (New Studies in Biblical Theology), by Richard Lints
