Theological Term of the Week: Anthropopathism

anthropopathism

A figure of speech in which human feeling or emotions are ascribed to God. Sometimes anthropopathism is contrasted with anthropomorphism, with the term anthropomorphism defined narrowly as the attribution of human form to God. But when anthropomorphism is defined more broadly as any language that speaks of God in human terms, then anthropopathism is seen as a special kind of anthropomorphism.

• In scripture:

And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel (1 Samuel 15:35 ESV).

 Related terms:

• anthropomorphism
• biblical hermeneutics

Filed under Scripture

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