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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Anthropomorphism</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01558c.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="A term used in its widest sense to signify the tendency of man to conceive the activities of the external world as the counterpart of his own"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="01558c.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/a.htm">A</a> > Anthropomorphism, Anthropomorphites</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Anthropomorphism, Anthropomorphites</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>(<em>anthropos</em>, <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a>, and <em>morphe</em>, form).</p> <p>A term used in its widest sense to signify the tendency of man to conceive the activities of the external world as the counterpart of his own. A philosophic system which borrows its method from this tendency is termed Philosophic Anthropomorphism. The word, however, has been more generally employed to designate the play of that impulse in <a href="../cathen/12738a.htm">religious</a> thought. In this sense, Anthropomorphism is the ascription to the Supreme Being of the form, organs, operations, and general characteristics of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">human</a> <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a>. This tendency is strongly manifested in primitive <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">heathen</a> <a href="../cathen/12738a.htm">religions</a>, in all forms of <a href="../cathen/12223b.htm">polytheism</a>, especially in the classic <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">paganism</a> of Greece and <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>. The charge of Anthropomorphism was urged against the Greeks by their own <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosopher</a>, Xenophanes of <a href="../cathen/04128d.htm">Colophon</a>. The first <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> apologists upbraided the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagans</a> for having represented <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, who is spiritual, as a mere magnified man, subject to human vices and passions. The Bible, especially the <a href="../cathen/14526a.htm">Old Testament</a>, abounds in anthropomorphic expressions. Almost all the activities of organic life are ascribed to the Almighty. He speaks, breathes, sees, hears; He walks in the garden; He sits in the heavens, and the earth is His footstool. It must, however, be noticed that in the <a href="../bible">Bible</a> locutions of this kind ascribe human characteristics to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> only in a vague, indefinite way. He is never positively declared to have a body or a nature the same as man's; and human defects and vices are never even figuratively attributed to Him. The metaphorical, symbolical character of this language is usually obvious. The all-seeing Eye signifies <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God's</a> omniscience; the everlasting Arms His <a href="../cathen/11251c.htm">omnipotence</a>; His Sword the chastisement of sinners; when He is said to have repented of having made man, we have an extremely forcible expression conveying His abhorrence of <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a>. The justification of this language is found in the fact that <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a> can be conveyed to men only through the medium of human <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a> and thoughts, and is to be expressed only in language suited to their comprehension. The limitations of our conceptual capacity <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">oblige</a> us to represent <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> to ourselves in <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a> that have been originally drawn from our <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> of self and the objective world. The Scriptures themselves amply warn us against the mistake of interpreting their figurative language in too literal a sense. They teach that <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is spiritual, omniscient, invisible, omnipresent, ineffable. Insistence upon the literal interpretation of the metaphorical led to the <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a> of the Anthropomorphites.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Throughout the writings of the Fathers the spirituality of the Divine Nature, as well as the inadequacy of human thought to comprehend the greatness, <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">goodness</a>, and <a href="../cathen/08004a.htm">infinite</a> perfection of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, is continually emphasized. At the same time, <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> philosophy and <a href="../cathen/14580x.htm">theology</a> set forth the <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> by means of concepts derived chiefly from the <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> of our own faculties, and our <a href="../cathen/10321a.htm">mental</a> and moral characteristics. We reach our philosophic <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> by inference from the nature of various forms of existence, our own included, that we perceive in the Universe. All created excellence, however, falls <a href="../cathen/08004a.htm">infinitely</a> short of the Divine perfections, consequently our <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> can never truly represent Him as He is, and, because He is <a href="../cathen/08004a.htm">infinite</a> while our minds are finite, the resemblance between our thought and its <a href="../cathen/08004a.htm">infinite</a> object must always be faint. Clearly, however, if we would do all that is in our power to make our <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a>, not perfect, but as worthy as it may be, we must form it by means of our conceptions of what is highest and best in the scale of existence that we <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a>. Hence, as mind and <a href="../cathen/11727b.htm">personality</a> are the noblest forms of reality, we think most worthily of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> when we conceive Him under the attributes of mind, will, intelligence, <a href="../cathen/11727b.htm">personality</a>. At the same time, when the <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologian</a> or <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosopher</a> employs these and similar terms with reference to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, he understands them to be predicated not in exactly the same sense that they bear when applied to man, but in a sense controlled and qualified by the principles laid down in the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of analogy.</p> <p>A few decades ago thinkers and writers of the Spencerian and other kindred <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a> seldom touched upon the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of a personal <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> without designating it Anthropomorphism, and thereby, in their judgment, excluding it definitively from the world of philosophic thought. Though on the wane, the fashion has not yet entirely disappeared. The charge of Anthropomorphism can be urged against our way of thinking and speaking of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> by those only who, despite the protestations of <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a> and <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophers</a>, persist in assuming that terms are used univocally of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and of creatures. When arguments are offered to sustain the imputation, they usually exhibit an incorrect view regarding the essential element of <a href="../cathen/11727b.htm">personality</a>. The gist of the <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proof</a> is that the Infinite is unlimited, while <a href="../cathen/11727b.htm">personality</a> essentially involves limitation; therefore, to speak of an Infinite Person is to fall into an absurdity. What is truly essential in the concept of <a href="../cathen/11727b.htm">personality</a> is, first, individual existence as opposed to indefiniteness and to identity with other beings; and next, possession, or intelligent control of self. To say that <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is personal is to say that He is distinct from the Universe, and that He possesses Himself and His <a href="../cathen/08004a.htm">infinite</a> activity, undetermined by any necessity from within or from without. This conception is perfectly compatible with that of <a href="../cathen/08004a.htm">infinity</a>. When the <a href="../cathen/01215c.htm">agnostic</a> would forbid us to think of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> as personal, and would have us speak of Him as energy, force, etc., he merely substitutes lower and more imperfect conceptions for a higher one, without escaping from what he terms Anthropomorphism, since these concepts too are derived from experience. Besides, he offers <a href="../cathen/15446a.htm">violence</a> to <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">human</a> <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> when, as sometimes happens, he asks us to entertain for an impersonal Being, conceived under the mechanical types of force or energy, sentiments of reverence, obedience, and trust. These sentiments come into play only in the world of <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a>, and cannot be exercised towards a Being to whom we deny the attributes of <a href="../cathen/11727b.htm">personality</a>.</p> <h2>Anthropomorphites (Audians)</h2> <p>A <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a> of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> that arose in the fourth century in <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a> and extended into Scythia, sometimes called Audians, from their founder, Audius. Taking the text of Genesis, i, 27, literally, Audius held that <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> has a human form. The <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a> was so gross, and, to use <a href="../cathen/08341a.htm">St. Jerome's</a> expression (Epist. vi, Ad Pammachium), so absolutely senseless, that it showed no vitality. Towards the end of the century it appeared among some bodies of <a href="../cathen/01191a.htm">African Christians</a>. The Fathers who wrote against it dismiss it almost contemptuously. In the time of <a href="../cathen/04592b.htm">Cyril of Alexandria</a>, there were some anthropomorphites among the <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egyptian</a> <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a>. He composed a short refutation of their <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a>, which he attributed to extreme <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a>. (Adv. Anthrop. in P.G., LXXVI.) Concerning the charges of anthropomorphism preferred against Melito, <a href="../cathen/14520c.htm">Tertullian</a>, <a href="../cathen/11306b.htm">Origen</a>, and Lactantius, see the respective articles. The <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a> was revived in northern <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a> during the tenth century, but was effectually suppressed by the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, notably by the learned <a href="../cathen/12651b.htm">Ratherius</a>, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/15360a.htm">Verona</a>.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">ST. THOMAS, <em>C. Gent.</em>, I, x; III, xxxviii, xxxix; <em>Summa Theol.</em>, QQ. ii, iv, xiii; WILHELM AND SCANNELL, <em>Manual of Catholic Theology</em> (London, 1890), I, Bk. II, Pt. 1; SHANAHAN, <em>John Fiske's Idea of God</em> in <em>Cath. Univ. Bull.</em>, III; MARTINEAU, <em>A Study of Religion</em> (New York, 1888), I, Bk. II, i; FLINT, <em>Theism</em> (New York, 1903), Lect. III; THEODORET, <a href="../fathers/27024.htm"><em>Church History</em> IV.9</a>; VIGOUROUX, in <em>Dict. de la Bible</em>, s.v.; ST. AUGUSTINE, <em>De divers. quaest., Ad Simplicianum</em>, Q. vii; <a href="../fathers/120101.htm"><em>City of God</em> I.2</a>.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Fox, J.</span> <span id="apayear">(1907).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Anthropomorphism, Anthropomorphites.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01558c.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Fox, James.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Anthropomorphism, Anthropomorphites."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 1.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1907.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01558c.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Bob Elder.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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