Some books are timeless. Other times are specific times. This is your gods. So it’s personally challenging and gives me a deep insight into modern Western culture. Written in Wright’s usual, sharp, descriptive style and applied to current reality, this book confronts personal idolatry and accepted norms among many faithful Bible followers (when he challenged merely by opening the Bible and applying it, as Jesus did). It’s in the way, as it casts the Bible light on the lives of many (most?) of us.
Part 1 begins with a statement that seems completely obvious as soon as you read them. “Bible monotheism is inevitably missionary,” and “the Bible mission is inevitably monotheism.”
Wright’s answer to the question, “The other gods we read in the Bible are nothing or nothing” is clear and thorough. Read the book and see how he does it (to make sure he understands complicated things).
‘The most fundamental distinction in all reality is presented to us in the opening poems of the Bible. It is the distinction between the Creator God and everything else that exists everywhere. Wright then shows the damage of not being able to recognize that the distinction (idol worship) is carried out.
Part 2 is simply entitled “Political Idolmy of the Time.” Wright does not pull punches: “You can’t stick to the Bible without connecting to the Bible, and be faithful to the Bible as a whole, because many of the Bible texts are in the public world, such as politics, economics, government, law, and so on.
Chapter 5 (“The Rise of the State in the Bible’s Perspective”) brings to the current debate of postcolonialism, along with Wright’s analysis of the nature of imperial idolatry, “As Adam and Eve’s sin is amplified at the national and empire levels, and as glory increases, it continues to bring death on the same scale. A devastating Old Testament insight into the current politics of the Western world rules Chapter 6.
And finally, in Part 3, “The People of God in the Idol Worship World,” Wright shares these gems about how to read and apply the Bible.
“For some, the Bible is a book of rules. For some, the Bible is a book of promise. For some, the Bible is a book of doctrine. Well, the Bible certainly contains a lot of these… But… … The Bible is fundamentally a story. Rather, it is everything that includes the story, the story of God, the universe, and the history and future of our world. He continues, “The trouble is that many Christians simply live in the story of the world and are trying to relate the Bible to it in some way.”
Wright then personally applies everything and answers the question, “What story do you live in?” And before a deeply personal and moving epilogue, Chapter 8, “Following Jesus in a Turbulent Era,” urges all readers to become faithful disciples.
I cannot fully recommend this profound, clear book.
Here is your God: Chris Wright, the faithful disciple of the idolatry era, Interversity Press (IVP), ISBN 978-1-78974-231-2. E-book ISBN 978-1-78974-232-9
