„Stała pokusa wiary”. Współczesne bałwochwalstwo i jego geneza

Abstract

Looking at some reputedly religious phenomena in today’s world we could openly ask whether these phenomena don’t fall, in certain cases, into a category of a new kind of idolatry which means replacing God with a creature. It is the world of human sensations and experiences that should be especially taken into consideration, sensations and experiences which are often regarded as religious or which, in some cases, undergo the process of absolutisation, whereas this is only a kind of concentration on oneself or on a particular thing. It has been noticed quite accurately, that modern times can be characterised by a shift “from wooden idols to spiritual idols”. Therefore, there is an urgent need for philosophical and theological perspective on this broad sphere of experiences, and for a question whether those experiences create new idols and, by the same token, whether they are idolatrous in character. To answer these questions responsibly and coherently we have to define the origins of idolatry and concurrently find the appropriate criteria which will enable us to evaluate theologically respective phenomena which may appear questionable. This very issue constitutes the subject of this study.