Doctrinal Idols<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I wrote something in a message to a friend that I thought might be worth sharing with blog readers as well: Doctrines are not supposed to be the object of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doctrinal Idols\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I wrote something in a message to a friend that I thought might be worth sharing with blog readers as well: Doctrines are not supposed to be the object of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-29T09:17:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-29T09:16:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/719\/2020\/06\/Moses-destroying-history.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"745\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html\",\"name\":\"Doctrinal Idols\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-29T09:17:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-29T09:16:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"I wrote something in a message to a friend that I thought might be worth sharing with blog readers as well: Doctrines are not supposed to be the object of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Doctrinal Idols\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Doctrinal Idols","description":"I wrote something in a message to a friend that I thought might be worth sharing with blog readers as well: Doctrines are not supposed to be the object of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Doctrinal Idols","og_description":"I wrote something in a message to a friend that I thought might be worth sharing with blog readers as well: Doctrines are not supposed to be the object of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2020-06-29T09:17:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-06-29T09:16:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":745,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/719\/2020\/06\/Moses-destroying-history.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html","name":"Doctrinal Idols","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-06-29T09:17:20+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-29T09:16:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"I wrote something in a message to a friend that I thought might be worth sharing with blog readers as well: Doctrines are not supposed to be the object of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Doctrinal Idols"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":79403,"date":"2020-06-29T05:17:20","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T09:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=79403"},"modified":"2020-06-29T05:16:48","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T09:16:48","slug":"doctrinal-idols","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/06\/doctrinal-idols.html","title":{"rendered":"Doctrinal Idols"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I wrote something in a message to a friend that I thought might be worth sharing with blog readers as well:<\/p>\n

Doctrines are not supposed to be the object of your faith, God is. Thinking seriously about doctrine and subjecting your beliefs you serious scrutiny is one practical way of putting God first, showing that you are willing to seek God with your whole heart and when necessary smash a few of your long-cherished idols.<\/p>\n

Our sensitivity when our idols are challenged and there is a threat that they will be torn down is visible whether the idol is a literal tangible statue or a mental construct. And of course, often the one serves as the framework or support for the other.<\/p>\n

Beyond what I wrote on Facebook, I am struck by the way the classic concept of an idol as a statue is now suddenly visible in a way they have rarely been in our lifetimes. The sensitivity that we see on display shows that idolatry is a factor \u2013 in a metaphorical sense if not in the strictly literal one where worship and prostration are involved. But in a sense, it is more than a metaphor. When God as ultimate is replaced with an idol that represents the less than ultimate, whether that be \u201cthe nation,\u201d \u201cthe Founding Fathers,\u201d or \u201cthe South,\u201d it is real idolatry with real consequences, as Paul Tillich famously highlighted in his book\u00a0The Dynamics of Faith<\/a><\/em>. There are plenty of statues around about which no one would complain if they were removed. This in itself shows that the statues are valued and that what they represent and stand for is precious to some people. In the case of those figures that represent enslavement of other human beings, that in itself is a good argument for taking them down.<\/p>\n

In case you missed it, Rev. Shaun King suggested tearing down statues that depict Jesus as a white European<\/a>. Some people have such a twisted view of Jesus that they thought the appropriate response was to make death threats against King, once again illustrating the problem in the process. King stood by his brief remarks and added:\u00a0\u201cIf your religion requires Jesus to be a blonde haired, blue eyed Jesus, then your religion is not Christianity, but white supremacy\u2026I am a practicing Christian. I am an ordained minister and was a Senior Pastor for many years. If my critiques of the white supremacy within the Christian world bother you to the point of wanting to kill me, you are the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

See also:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/thewayofimprovement.com\/2020\/06\/28\/mike-pence-visits-first-baptist-dallas-for-freedom-sunday-he-and-robert-jeffress-show-us-what-idolatry-looks-like\/<\/p>\n

Candida Moss on why tearing down monuments doesn\u2019t erase history<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/thewayofimprovement.com\/2020\/06\/27\/wilfred-mcclay-on-historical-monuments\/<\/p>\n

https:\/\/thewayofimprovement.com\/2020\/06\/27\/wilentz-we-can-honor-and-dishonor-american-leaders-of-previous-eras-without-turning-history-into-a-simplistic-tale-of-good-versus-evil\/<\/p>\n

https:\/\/thewayofimprovement.com\/2020\/06\/25\/how-should-we-deal-with-monuments-to-flawed-individuals\/<\/p>\n

And a relevant meme:<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/p>\n

What are your feelings about the current focus on statues and monuments?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"