Anthropomorphite

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A member of an early Christian sect that held God to possess a literal human form and body
2. Someone in the history of the church who taught that God physically resembles a human being
3. One who adheres to the belief, held by an ancient Christian group, that the Deity has human shape

Etymology: Anthropomorphite was first a name for a religious group. In the ancient Church, the Anthropomorphites were Egyptian monks who read the Bible's descriptions of God literally and concluded that God had a human form. Their opponents, who held that God is incorporeal, treated this as a serious error, and the label stuck to the believers themselves. The word is built from Greek parts. "Anthrōpos" means "human being," and "morphē" means "form" or "shape," which gives us words like "metamorphosis." The suffix "-ite" marks a follower or adherent, as in "Israelite" or "Jacobite." Taken together, the term names a person who holds that God has human shape. Its close relative "anthropomorphism" names the broader habit of attributing human traits to gods, animals, or objects.