Anthropopath
Encyclopedia
Anthropopathism, from the Greek
"Anthropos", meaning "man" and "Pathos", meaning to feel or suffer. This is the assignation of human
emotion
al characteristics to a non-human subject, when these are traits they do not possess.
This is a technique prevalent in religious writings, where, for instance, Human
emotion
is attributed to God
, where he would not normally experience emotion in this sense.
This technique is particularly notable in the book of Genesis, as an example of the theme of God as a personal deity. Some Bible scholars, however, argue that human emotions ascribed to God are indicative of divine responses within the matrix of human history that are in fact analogous to human emotions though not univocal (see "There Is No Pain, You Are Misreading": Is God "Comfortably Numb"?).
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
"Anthropos", meaning "man" and "Pathos", meaning to feel or suffer. This is the assignation of human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
al characteristics to a non-human subject, when these are traits they do not possess.
This is a technique prevalent in religious writings, where, for instance, Human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
is attributed to God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, where he would not normally experience emotion in this sense.
This technique is particularly notable in the book of Genesis, as an example of the theme of God as a personal deity. Some Bible scholars, however, argue that human emotions ascribed to God are indicative of divine responses within the matrix of human history that are in fact analogous to human emotions though not univocal (see "There Is No Pain, You Are Misreading": Is God "Comfortably Numb"?).