Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ANTHROPOMORPHISM

The attribution of human characteristics to God, specifically the conceptualization of God as having aspects of the human (Gk. ánthrōpos) form (Gk. morphḗ), but not human emotions (such as love or anger), called anthropopathism. Anthropomorphic language is interspersed throughout the Bible, but it is more prevalent in the OT (esp. the Pentateuch and Psalms) than in the NT. Figurative descriptions of God as having human features include references to God’s face (Ps. 34:16[MT 17]), eyes (2 Chr. 16:9), lips (Prov. 16:27), mouth (Isa. 1:20), ears (Jas. 5:4), hands (Exod. 15:17), finger (Luke 11:20), arm (John 12:38), and foot (Lam. 1:15). Other anthropomorphic imagery implies human characteristics. God is depicted as walking in the garden (Gen. 3:8) and smelling sacrifices (8:21). While other ancient religions imagined their deities as actually being animal or human in form — or as a hybrid of animal and human characteristics, as in Egypt — the ancient Jewish religious traditions reflected in Scripture refrained from such. Although Gen. 1:27 provides an apparent rationale for anthropomorphic imagery, the inherent danger is that such figurative language, employed to express how humans have experienced a transcendent God, is mistaken for literal language, particularly with respect to God’s gender. Jesus’ many references to God as “Father” can best be understood against the backdrop of Israel’s anthropomorphic descriptions of God. The supreme anthropomorphism is the NT claim that God entered human flesh in the figure of Jesus of Nazareth.

Jeffrey T. Tucker

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ANTHROPOMORPHISM

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)