The category of avoda zara (idolatry) and Hinduism - Hindu-Noahide Book Club 1.2 - Same God, Other God by Alon Goshen-Gottstein

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We continue with part 2 of this book club (Same God, Other God by Alon Goshen-Gottstein):  

• Contemporary Jewish approaches to Hinduism and idolatry see the issue through a lens that was created thousands of years ago and was crafted in relation to religions other than Hinduism. 
• Avoda Zara is not a biblical term and so is not a fundamental foundation of Jewish thought. 
• Idol-making is problematic, even when the idol is of the one true god of Israel. 
• The term Avoda Zara appears in the rabbinic period. 
• Avodah Zara means "foreign worship" and connotates otherness, as well as wrong, abhorrent, and repulsive. 
• Avodah Zara was at a time poorly defined and the accusation of idolatry was based on what seemed to be self-evident foreign worship without any further reflection or explication. 
• The rise of Christianity and Islam gave Jews pause to think about the term Avoda Zara because Christians and Muslims did not claim to worship other gods, they claimed to worship the one true god of Israel, but they had a different understanding of him. This led to new interpretations and classifications of idolatry which can be used to understand Hinduism. 

The author massages the meaning of Avoda Zara (idolatry) and reveals it to be poorly defined and based on what is only self-evident and not a deeper rumination, thus possibly freeing Hinduism from a true accusation of Avoda Zara.  Meanwhile, new explanations on the nuance of Avoda Zara arose with the rise of Christianity and this nuance can be applied to Hinduism to make it a suitable religion perhaps in Jewish eyes.  The point always seems the same, to craft definitions and concepts which would allow Hinduism to be an entrance into the Noahide cult.