The New Idolatry

In “The New Idolatry” (Chalcedon Report No. 222), Rushdoony argues that modern theology has reproduced idolatry in subtler forms by relocating sovereignty, meaning, and truth from God to man. He identifies two dominant errors: first, the view of history as myth, which denies objective meaning and treats all truth as human interpretation—thereby demoting God to a symbolic construct and making man the true creator of meaning; second, the rejection of propositional truth, which falsely pits “heart knowledge” against reasoned, verbal revelation and thus undermines Scripture’s clarity and authority. Rushdoony contends that both positions arise from the same root sin of Genesis 3: man’s desire to define reality, law, and morality for himself. By denying that God has spoken clearly and authoritatively in words, these theologies elevate private insight, experience, or elite interpretation above Scripture—creating a new idolatry that cloaks human autonomy in religious language. The result is theological confusion that inevitably spreads into politics, economics, and science, because once God’s Word is limited, man’s word becomes absolute.