This study questions why the relationship between the worship of other gods and the worship of idols within the Old Testament is difficult to define, acknowledging how various traditions have seen these two issues as synonymous and others have viewed them as separate commandments. Judge argues that there are four factors at play in this diversity. He introduces the first three through an examination of the relationship between the prohibitions listed in the biblical text, and the fourth through a study of the biblical depiction of the war against idols before and after the fall of the Northern Kingdom. Judge argues that texts depicting the era before the fall provide a context in which there are strong grounds to distinguishing the worship of the “wrong gods” and the worship of the right God in the wrong way. However, texts depicting the era after the fall provide a context in which the issues appear to have been fused.

Contents I. Biblical Theology of Confrontation with Idols by Pablo Richard II. The Gods of Oppression by J. Severino Croatto III. Divine Judgment In History by George V. Pixley IV. The Epiphany of the God of Life in Jesus of Nazareth by Jon Sobrino V. The God of the Strategic Covenant by Victorio Araya G. VI. The Task of Making God Exist by Joan Casa–as VII. Meditation on the God of the Poor by Javier JimŽnez Lim—n VIII. God Bursts Forth in the Experience of Life by Frei Betto (Carlos Alberto Libanio Christo) IX. The Economic Roots of Idolatry: Entrepreneurial Metaphysics by Franz Hinkelammert X. The Faith of the Poor in Their Struggle with Idols by Hugo Assmann