Ye Gods! / Ed Willock

If theres one thing in the Bible thats hard for moderns to understand its the matter of idolatry. Can you imagine a bunch of people in our day going out and building a golden calf and then worshipping it? You cant? Then read Ye Gods and youll be convinced that ours is the worlds most idolatrous generation. There is a point at which simple appreciation for the things of this world fades into a religion of materialism. Praise suggests a litany, fondness betrays an undue attachment, admiration becomes worship and criticism is regarded as heresy. The godless desert of modern society is thick with golden calves. Glamour girls are not just pretty girls, they are mundane saints to whom people are irresistibly attracted by their very being. Music lovers are finding the satisfaction of all their religious feelings in harmonies which were only meant to provide a pleasing hour or an occasional uplifting of the spirits. And who does not know those other much-worshipped gods Security, Speed, Success? Ye Gods does a devastating, and often humorous, dissection of our new mysticisms. Hardly anyone will emerge from the last page unscathed.

The remarks in this direct attack on modern paganism are aimed at the godless who live in our land; but there is clearly also a strong thrust at Catholic complacency. If you are looking for different, thought-provoking reading, this is it.Dominicana

Ed Willock was born in South Boston in 1916. A football accident kept him laid up for five years during which time he spent educating himself. Influenced by his friendship with Peter Maurin and the works of Aquinas and Chesterton, he founded the much hailed Integrity magazine in the late 1940s and was a founder of the Catholic community Marycrest. He died in 1961. Illustrated by the author.