Journal of Religion and the Contemporary World

Journal of Religion and the Contemporary World

Anthropomorphic and Disanthropomorphic Models in Explaining Revelation and Their Relationship with each other

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Hamed Shivapor
Assistant Professor, Department of Theology, Mofid University, Qom, Iran.
10.22096/rc.2025.2047451.1232
Abstract
Based on the two ideas of anthropomorphism and negative theology, in the explanation of revelation, one can speak of two models. According to the anthropomorphistic model, God is a being like a human being who chooses a person and conveys his message to him through speech; but according to the negative theology model, God is superior to having a relationship with humans, but it is humans who reach out to a supernatural world and bring informations from there. Although the anthropomorphistic model of explaining revelation is more consistent with the appearances of religious texts, it is not consistent with philosophical theology and some other religious texts. This is while the explanation of revelation based on negative theology model is consistent with philosophical theology; but it is significantly distant from the appearances of religious texts. However, it is possible to provide an explanation of revelation that does not suffer from the problems of either of the two ideal explanations of anthropomorphism and negative theology. This explanation is based on the theology that is proposed in the mysticism of Ibn Arabi and those like him by drawing a middle path between anthropomorphism and negative theology. Also, by accepting the theory of panentheism as opposed to the two viewpoints of pantheism and personal God, the explanation of revelation will have a smoother path.
Keywords
Explaining Revelation
Anthropomorphism
Negative Theology
Personal God
Pantheism
panentheism

Subjects

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Journal of Religion and the Contemporary World
Volume 11, no. 2 - Serial Number 21
Fall 2024 & Winter 2025, Issue 21
January 2025
Pages 261-280