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Worship, veneration, and idolatry: observations from C. S. Lewis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2014

JASON LEPOJÄRVI
JASON LEPOJÄRVI*
Affiliation:
St Benet's Hall, Oxford University, 38 St Giles' Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 3LN, UK e-mail: jason.lepojarvi@stb.ox.ac.uk
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Abstract

What does it mean to love God ‘more’ than people? This article engages the difficulty of defining worship, veneration, and idolatry, by looking at C. S. Lewis's observations on the subject. Lewis offers helpful nudges towards more than a merely conceptual distinction, but he does not consistently apply his love principles to cover human love for the saints (Mary in particular). The article concludes with eight follow-up questions that benefit philosophers and theologians alike as they seek to formulate more focused definitions of worship, veneration, and idolatry.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , December 2015 , pp. 543 - 562
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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