Naming Our Idolatry

 

 

 

Hebrew Prophets

Naming Our Idolatry

Sunday, August 16, 2026

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Father Richard Rohr describes why the example and message of the Hebrew prophets continue to be important for us today: 

My favorite thing about the prophetic books of the Bible is that they show a whole series of people in evolution of their understanding of God. Like most of us, the prophets start not only with judgmentalism and anger but also with a superiority complex of placing themselves above others. Then, in various ways, that outlook falls apart over the course of their writings. They move from that anger and judgmentalism to a reordered awareness in which they become more like God: more patient like God, more forgiving like God, more loving like God.

Throughout Scripture, the prophets seem to emphasize one sin above all the rest: idolatry, our habit of making things “God” that are not absolute, infinite, or objectively good. They are also ruthless toward the preoccupations of our private self, which always wants to put itself in the best light.

Prophets are full truth-tellers, not fortune-tellers. They pull back the veil to radically reframe our preferred storyline of history: the boring and predictable narrative of winners and losers, rewards and punishments. They are by definition those rare individuals who see reality in its fullness and dimension, rather than in dualities like totally right or totally wrong, all good or all bad.

There must be someone—or several someones—in every age who can tell the faith community, and society at large: Your first egoic glance at life—and God—­is largely wrong! And it is largely engendered by fear. “No one else is your problem,” says the prophet. “You are your own problem. What you think is goodness is too often delusion, and what you think is bad just might be your spiritual best friend.” In doing so, prophets offer not only criticism but also visions of a more just, more merciful, more peaceful society—and call the people to live into it. Any religion or philosophy that teaches group blindness instead of full seeing is standing in the way of such clarity.

We must be eternally conscious of this fact: For the untransformed self, religion is the most dangerous temptation of all. Our egos, when they are validated by religion, are given full permission to enslave, segregate, demean, defraud, and inflate—because all bases are covered with pre-ascribed virtue and a supposed hatred of evil. This is what the prophets expose in their wholesale assault on temple worship, priestly classes, self- serving commandments, and intergenerational wealth. “Be very careful here!” they keep shouting. The prophets know that religion is the best and that religion also risks being the worst. We love to choose sides and declare ourselves sinless and pure and orthodox (“right”), with little evidence that it is true. This is always a surprise to everyone except the prophets.