We Become What We Worship
G.K. Beale
Paperback: 341 pages
Publisher: IVP Academic (November 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 083082877X
ISBN-13: 978-0830828777
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
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In his book, We Become What We Worship (WBWWW), G. K. Beale takes on a tour from Genesis to Revelation in an attempt to show us his thesis: “What you revere, you resemble, either for ruin or restoration.” Suffice it to say, the book is not a biblical theology of idolatry in full, but only this particular aspect. It is, though, very much a biblical theology. Beale relies heavily on the idea of intertextuality- a way of reading the text which looks for allusions to other text through vocabulary, grammar, context, thought, etc, and seeks to use the combination of those things as a method of interpretation. It is first grammatical-historical, then canonical-contextual. He gives an excellent introduction to the method in his own introduction, and gives the motivation and method behind such exegesis. Beale is a self-proclaimed “maximalist” when it comes to scouring such allusions, and the reader who is unfamiliar with this method, or a “minimalist” should keep aware. Minimalists will be happy to see that he gives quite a bit of reasoning for his exegetical choices, however, even if they disagree with the results. Full disclosure: This reviewer tends to lean towards a maximalist stance.

Overall, I found the book to be very excellent. The reader should note, however, that WBWWW is very indepth and academic. Anyone looking for light reading might want to head elsewhere. The use of footnotes are extensive, and could probably be put into a companion volume. In fact, Beale himself states that it is best to read through the content of the chapter first, before diving into the contents of the notes. I found this to pretty good advice, as the notes can lead to several rabbit trails that would distract the reader from the flow of Beale’s argument at times. Needless to say, the notes themselves are very thorough, and welcomingly point the reader to many other sources of information.

The foundation of the theme is laid out in Beale’s exposition of Isaiah’s commissioning in Isaiah 6. It is through this lens that we begin the journey of tracing the thread of idolatry through Scripture. This exegesis is given in chapter 2, and finds it way into the discussion of every other chapter that follows. Beale’s work on Isaiah 6 is very convincing and thought-provoking, and a great spring-board into the rest of the book.

Beale then sets out to trace his thesis of reflecting what we worship throughout the Old Testament (chapter 3 and 4). These chapters contain some of my favorite discussion in the book- particularly Beale’s work to show his thesis in the golden calf episode in Exodus, and the reality of Adam’s sin in the garden ultimately being one of idolatry. The Exodus event then become pivotal to the authors of Scripture, and is alluded to in this respect often. Beale rounds out his discussion on OT specific texts by giving a run-down on Jewish interpretation of various texts that show that the Israelites also saw this theme in their Scriptures.

Chapters 6 – 9 focus on the New Testament texts- the Gospels (6), Acts (7), Paul’s epistles (8), and Revelation (9). Beale does a great job of tying in his thesis to these books, as they are often quoting or alluding to Isaiah 6. The continual refrain of “those who have ears to hear” and “seeing, they might not see” rings loud throughout the NT- statements which Beale defends throughout as showing that the idolaters have become spiritually deaf and blind in the same way that their idols are actually unable to see or hear. In this section, I particularly liked Beale’s discussion of the book of Revelation, where he gives insight into the how and why an understanding of idolatry and the letters to the seven churches help us see the theme throughout the book.

The last two chapters are both very well-done, and of the most importance to the every-day reader or minister. The first of the two, “The Reversal from Reflecting the Image of Idols to Reflecting God’s Image” (chapter 10) is a look at regeneration and salvation- where opening the eyes and ears of the spiritually dead is an act of God himself, as we are unable to break the continuing conforming ourselves. The final chapter (11) has a title that says it all: So What Difference Does it Make? What does all of this mean for us? Beale takes a look at several aspects of what this teaching means. He starts out by discussing the idea of idolatry and God’s promise of a renewed heavens and earth. The shaking of creation means the shaking of idols. Though a favorite section of mine, it seems that it would have best fit under the chapter on Revelation- or even given its own. Beale then moves on to getting to personal application, by looking at 1)idolatry in personal (contemporary) life, and 2)idolatry in church life, before going into his final reflections.

I greatly enjoyed this book, and came away agreeing with the majority of Beale’s conclusions. As I noted, some of my favorite discussions were on Isaiah 6, the Golden Calf, Genesis 1-3, and Revelation. It’s not that the rest were particularly bad- they weren’t- but those really stuck out to me. Though intimidating, the footnotes are welcomed by this reviewer, as they get into some interesting discussions, as well as give a great amount of other possible resources to check out.

Unfortunately, the size and tone of the book will be a turn off for those who are just getting interested in biblical theology or intertextuality. I would love for a slimmer, more “available” version of this to come out as well. Also, Beale tends to be very repetitive throughout the chapters, which can be good or bad for different personalities. I found it to be somewhat annoying at times, but helpful at others (if I were to pick it up after a day of not reading, for example). Obviously, those who tend towards a minimalist approach to seeing allusions will disagree with some of Beale’s exegesis- but all in all I think that most will be happy with the extent to which he both uses scripture and explains his reasoning behind exegetical decisions. Sometimes, its the accumulative force of the arguments over each one individually that made the conclusion click so that I could understand his reasoning.

If you are up to some very deep, engaging reading, or are just interested in the thesis of WBWWW- I definitely recommend picking this up. I also recommend picking it up just for the commentary given on the various passages- even if read apart from the rest of the book as a whole (though, reading it through first would give better understanding!). In the end, it is somewhat of a demanding read for those outside the acadamy or those who want to really study theology, but even with that, I would recommend this book to anyone who was willing to tackle it.

Interested readers can purchase this book hereamazon.com