The Invention of Idolatry

This essay examines the origins of the concept of idolatry in the ancient world. The discourse on idols and idolatry played a central role in the history of Western ideas about religion and religious diversity, framing much of the Christian debates on non-Christian religions, and eventually, on the origins of religion as such (e.g., Hume). It is here argued that idolatry is in fact, from the start, a word for religion, albeit “false religions.” Following a comparative discussion on the respective semantics of idolatry in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, this essay shows how the category emerged at the intersection of ancient Jewish and Greek debates on religion and images, before being appropriated and put to use by early Christian authors. The essay then compares the Jewish and Christian discourse of idolatry in late antiquity. It is here argued that the different narratives developed in this context played a central role in the emergence of an anthropocentric versus a theocentric history of religions in the early modern period.