A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original article appears below. Rev. Alex Zeidman is Director of the Scott Mission, Toronto.
Idols of our Time. Bob Goudzwaard, translated by Mark Vander Vennen, Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1984. 115 pp,
When I first received Idols of Our Time for review I thought that it might be one of a number of books that have appeared recently raising the consciousness of Christians to the addictive and subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) winning of the pocket books if not the souls of Christians to the materialism of our day. Many of us have read with profit books by Ron Sider {Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger) and John White (The Golden Cow). Goudzwaard’s book examines the problem from a broader and more basic perspective. To be sure the idol of material prosperity is dealt with but also the idolatry of nationalism and of guaranteed security. His book is biblically based and uses these biblical insights to critique our present day western culture and especially addresses himself to those of us who are Christian.
“We know from Scripture that both persons and societies can put their faith in things or forces which their own hands have made. In their pursuit of prosperity, salvation, health, protection and so forth, people sooner or later create gods. But gods never leave their makers alone. Because people put themselves in a position of dependence on their gods, invariably the moment comes when those things or forces gain the upper hand. The things or forces control their makers. It is conceivable then that the means to progress which our own hands have made – the economy, technology, science and the state – have become such forces today, imposing their will on us as gods.”
Goudzwaard explores the relationship between ideology with its system of concepts, values and goals and idolatry. He uses the example of technology as an idol to illustrate his argument. “To these persons and nations technology has then become an idol. And because they adapt that idol to our dynamic culture, technology needs constant development. They make room for this development in our society, even if they must sacrifice, because they believe that technology gives life meaning.” “… Many of today’s technicians, scientists and experts mouth their new standard of life: total devotion to technological, economic, scientific and political means to prosperity and survival. As gifts of the creation transformed into autonomous powers, these means are the hidden idols of today.”
Goudzwaard writes, “When the ideology of revolution rears its head, it always strikes at what is basically unjust.” I am not sure that that is always the case and I would differ from him at this point. Given the nature of evil which Goudzwaard recognizes it would not be surprising to see a revolution raised by an evil rebel against a ‘good’ established power. His main point, however, is that even revolution in a good cause, such as the overthrow of an oppressive dictator “can become an overarching, legitimating goal and expand into an ideology, and ideology which has no flexibility in its use of means and which immobilizes forces that gradually slip out of control.”
Goudzwaard pursues his thesis with care. In speaking of the “Ideology of nation” he uses the example of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa “the National Party at prayer.” One can think of nearer nations where such an idolatry is apparent.
To those of us who would see greater involvement by government in social problems he issues a caution. “Let us be honest: our attitude toward the welfare state is a religious matter. To many people and institutions it is a god, to which you may put your request and from which you may expect everything: your work, your housing and your economic security. But this god fails us precisely at the critical moment, when the expectations reach their climax. The ritual around the welfare state today is a ritual around a hollow idol, officiated by a priesthood of politicians.” This is strong comment indeed.
Goudzwaard concludes, “No goal or end, however lofty or worthwhile, may allow us to elevate the means outside the reach of genuine truth, justices and the love of God and neighbour. This principle holds whether the goal is maintaining a Christian culture, eliminating the most malicious powers, protecting our deepest freedoms or even pursuing disarmament. For as soon as the means become independent, they also become our gods, gods which will ultimately destroy us.” One may quarrel with his use of language (“genuine truth”) but his message is both clear and one might even say prophetic in the sense of the Old Testament prophets who in their time enveighed against the false gods of nation, prosperity and security. Like the prophets of old Goudzwaard calls his readers back to biblical ways “to live justly, to love our neighbours and to manage God’s creation as good stewards.”
We are not left in the gloom of surrounding idolatry. Goudzwaard leaves us by pointing to biblical hope. “Christian hope is a hope of contrast: it revives in the middle of the night, just when the darkness seems to overpower us.” He then reminds us of that symbol of hope in darkness, the morning star, and more importantly of Jesus Christ, the morning star.
Goudzwaard ends his book with the example of Esther. He quotes F. Weinreb, a Jewish scholar, “When Esther appears, when Esther is seen in the darkness of the exile, that is the sign of daybreak. Where God in His hiddenness can be delineated, there is the sign that the defeat of the night has come.” We are called by Goudzwaard to be Esthers: witnesses to our culture and disclosers of the idols of our day.
Goudzwaard’s book is well written and his argument compelling. It could with profit be used as the basis of a bible study and discussion group. The translator is also to be commended for his readable work. The footnotes lead us further into this critical subject. Idols of Our Time is a book to be read by today’s thoughtful Christian.