IDOL (OF. idole, Lat. ido/ani, from ilk. (taw Xor, ei.bifort, image, from elbivat, eidenai. Skt.
-rid, to know, Lat. videre, to see). An image in tended to represent a deity, and to be adored as such. The act of such adoration is idolatry. Through theological usage. the term idolatry has came to mean in a general sense any worship or obeisance paid to any other than the Su preme Being as conceived by Judaism, Chris tianity, or Islam. Confining ourselves to the more restricted usage, the worship of idols ap pears to he a phase of religious evolution that is nattiral to man at a certain stage of culture. It arises from the oh-sire to furnish some tangible evidence of the presence of the powers upon %%loom man feels himself to be dependent. In this sense idolatry is to be distinguished from the attribution of divine force to II sacred stone, river, or other object. The sanctity is inherent, for one reason or the other, in such objects themselves, whereas the sanctity of an idol is due to its being a symbol. It heconws evident, therefore, that while the direct worship of ob jects is a link in leading to a symbolical image worship, the latter belongs to a phase of re ligious thought transeenoling the more primi tive manifestations of the religious instinct. This thesis finds an illustration in the religions history of the Semites, as well as in that of the I?reeks and Romans. The localization of nature deities, such as the sun, moon, anod certain planets. led in the case of the Babylonians and Egyptians to representation of the gods of a more or less fanciful character, and the develop ment of the art, instinct acts as a powerful factor in promoting and maintaining the worship of these gods under the form of images of men or animals, or of no ominbination of tine two. The
influence exerted by Babylonian and P.;gyptian culture led the nations of Palestine—notably the Phoenicians—to replace poles and stones by sym bolical representations of the gods, and the Ilebrews likewise after they had advanced to the agricultural stage fell a prey to these same influ ences until, through the reaction brought about by the teachings of the prophets, an emphatic protest against all manner of idolatry is em bodied in the religious system and cult of post exilic .Tudaisin. The rise of Christianity helped to spread the doctrine further, though the Chris tian veneration of sacred images (see I W( »tsnle) was by some confounded with idolatry. Is1:1111 struck at the root of the 'natter by forbidding the making of any representation of any living thing. whether intended to be worshiped or not (cf. Ex. XX. 4). TO give life was felt to be the exclusive prerogative of God, and to attempt to reproduce even the external form of a living thing was regarded as impiety. .1, a consequence wherever Islam se eured a foothold idolatry was doomed. Zoroas trianism at least did not encourage idolatry, but it is notiecable that in the extreme East Dlia. China. and Japan—iololat•y was not only reconciled with the remarkable development of religious thoug.ht that took place in those regions, but its hold seemed to grow stronger with each new phase in this evolution.