On Petrification

Drawing on a diverse range of thinkers and scholars from Moses Mendelssohn to Leora Batnitzky, from Cynthia Ozick to Erich Fromm, this lecture advances an interpretation of idolatry as petrification. In contrast to an essentialist reading of idolatry, we will explore the idea that idolatry occurs when the fluidity is replaced with paralysis, the dynamic with the static.