“We have art so that we shall not die of reality.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
The book of Genesis in the Bible famously says that God created humanity “in our own image.” We’ve returned the favor – creating Gods in OUR own image. That is, human-like, only really really big. For example, the God of the Bible may not have a physical body, but certainly behaves in all too human ways: He loves and hates: “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” (Mal. 1:2-3). He exacts revenge: “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay.” (Deut. 32:35). He regrets: “The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth.” (Gen. 6:6). He is jealous: “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Ex. 34:14). Examples abound.
It’s called “anthropomorphism” – “anthropos” = human beings and ‘morphos’ = the form of something. So anthropomorphism is projecting human traits and actions onto things and situations that aren’t human, such as pets, or “an angry storm,” or “my phone died.” (more…)