Strange Gods: Unmasking the Idols in Everyday Life

by Elizabeth Scalia

Overview

Renowned in the blogosphere as The Anchoress and as Catholic Portal editor of the popular Patheos.com, Elizabeth Scalia offers a powerful critique of the “gods” we worship today, reminding readers that life’s deepest desires can be satisfied only in Christ. Strange Gods, Scalia's debut book, is packed full of the iconoclastic vim and vigor that has won her a large, faithful Internet following. She presents readers with a surprising look at the ways in which modern people still commit the sin of idolatry in their everyday lives. While literal golden calves no longer dot the landscape, Scalia describes how legitimate loves become obsessively twisted into idols. She unmasks idolatry in a number of everyday experiences—friendships that become needy or possessive, commitments political and religious that grow so intense they lead to hatred of others, to name a few—and points to the incarnation of Christ and authentic worship of him as a way out of idolatry and into peace, happiness, and love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594713576
Publisher:	Ave Maria Press
Publication date:	05/06/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Elizabeth Scalia is a Benedictine Oblate and managing editor of the Catholic Channel at Patheos.com, where she blogs as The Anchoress. She is also a columnist at First Things and for The Catholic Answer.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 God before Us 13

Chapter 2 God after Us: The Idol of I 27

Chapter 3 The Idol of the Idea 39

Chapter 4 The Idol of Prosperity 49

Chapter 5 The Idol of Technology 63

Chapter 6 The Idols of Coolness and Sex 75

Chapter 7 The Idol of Plans 93

Chapter 8 The Super Idols 103

Chapter 9 Through the Looking Glass: Super Idols and Language 117

Chapter 10 The People of Gods 141

Conclusion: My Dreadful Idol 155

About the Cover 161

Notes 163

Editorial Reviews

False gods are everywhere, and even those who hold a staunch religious faith worship them. So says Scalia, best known on the Internet for her popular religion blog, The Anchoress. While there may not be any literal golden calves as in Moses' time, a plethora of obstacles stand today between believers and God. These can disrupt the spiritual life and slowly guide people on paths toward despair, unhealthy solitude, and desolation. Among the laundry list of idols include technology, desires for wealth, casual sex, and a warped sense of patriotism. Everyone, according to the author, can be tricked to contort that which is good into something that saps the spirit and breeds cynicism. Scalia does not write as though she is above her readers—she knows she wrestles with the same idols as everyone else. Her thoughtful and often witty anecdotes pepper her analysis and serve to lighten a very serious topic. This is a welcome invitation to self-reflection that many spiritual seekers will find edifying. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly