ANTHROPOMORPHISM. - Anthropomorphism (from Gr. ἀνθρωπος "man," and μορφή "form") in general is man’s tendency to project himself onto the things around him and to give the external world the features of his inner world. This tendency can also affect the conception of the divine. Hence the dual aspect of anthropomorphism: one philosophical, the other religious.
Philosophical anthropomorphism, when kept within its proper bounds, finds justification in the truth—supported by tradition and science—that man, from a material and physiological standpoint, is a microcosm containing the elements and laws of the universe. Another foundation of this anthropomorphism is the natural harmony between the knowing subject and the knowable object, so that, according to the best philosophy, the laws of thought reflect the laws of being. But philosophical anthropomorphism can exceed its legitimate limits if the analogy between man and the world and their relationship of interdependence is exaggerated. A characteristic example of philosophical anthropomorphism is found in the bold theories of Telesio and Campanella, who attribute sense and spirit to all things (cosmic sensism and panpsychism), thus paving the way for certain extravagant forms of modern dynamism in which force is equated with spirit.
Religious anthropomorphism is that which touches upon the supernatural sphere. It is predominantly manifested in pagan polytheism, which, starting from animism (q.v.) or the attribution of spirit to things, creates a host of gods as personifications of natural forces and phenomena, to which are attributed a psychology realistically human (Tylor). Some uncritical scholars have sought to detect this vulgar anthropomorphism even in the Jewish religion and thus in the Old Testament. In Sacred Scripture, in fact, especially in the Old Testament, anthropomorphic expressions recur frequently when speaking of God. To God are attributed not only actions proper to the human spirit, such as thought, will, and feeling, but also the forms of internal and external sensitive life (anger, joy, and other passions, sight, hearing, and other senses). Indeed, it is not rare in the Bible to speak of the mouth of God, His hands, and other members, as if God had a body. It is therefore not entirely surprising that in the 4th century a certain Auidus dared to propose a literal interpretation of these texts, attributing to God a true human form, not excluding matter. This gross error found a few naive followers in Syria and Egypt, who were even ridiculed by the Fathers of the Church (St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine). In reality, these passages cannot be interpreted literally so as to derive the concept of a material God, especially since the Old Testament abounds with admirable affirmations of God’s perfect spirituality and His ineffable transcendence (cf. BIBLICAL ANTHROPOMORPHISM).
A third kind of anthropomorphism may also be added, which might be called theological. It is connected with the important problem of the value of our concepts and our language concerning God and His attributes (cf. ANALOGY). Here it suffices to recall that in speaking of God we must necessarily employ concepts and words relating to created nature, simply because our reason cannot rise to the knowledge of God directly and immediately, but only through creatures, which bear the imprint of His power and have with Him a relationship of causality and thus of likeness. But in this ascent, the human intellect runs the risk either of overemphasizing the likeness to the point of identity, or of exaggerating God’s transcendence and His difference from creatures to the point of equivocation. In the first case, we have anthropomorphism or the equation of God with man; in the second, agnosticism (q.v.) or the distrust of attaining divinity with human concepts. Christian theology, fortified by divine revelation, avoids these two pitfalls with the doctrine of analogy, according to which our concepts concerning the divine attributes are true, i.e., they correspond to the object (the divine nature), but not adequately.
**