Idolatry is a concept that is native to the Bible. The prohibition on the worship of idols originates in the Bible and comes from its concerns around the worship of the one God. What is strange, then, is that the word Idolatry does not appear once in the entire Hebrew Bible. Rather, idolatry is coined in 1 Corinthians, a Pauline Epistle. The word in Greek is ειδωλολατρειας which combines the Greek words for that which is seen and worship. Using a close textual and conceptual reading of conical and non-canonical sources this project argues that idolatry is not a neutral or natural term, rather it is one that grows out of the Biblical religion and Paul’s response to it. This project aims to contribute a conceptual history of idolatry and the intellectual environment that makes it not only possible, but prohibited.