Some have called it the essence of sin, others the depth of salvation. Regardless of one’s evaluation of it, however, deification throughout Western history has been a part of human aspiration. From the ancient pharaohs to modern transhumanists, people have envisioned their own divinity. These visionaries include not only history’s greatest megalomaniacs, but also mystics, sages, apostles, prophets, magicians, bishops, philosophers, atheists, and monks. Some aimed for independent deity, others realized their eternal union with God. Some anticipated godhood in heaven, others walked as gods on earth. Some accepted divinity by grace, others achieved it by their own will to power. There is no single form of deification (indeed, deification is as manifold as the human conception of God), but the many types are united by a set of interlocking themes: achieving immortality, wielding superhuman power, being filled with supernatural knowledge or love–and through these means transcending normal human (or at least ‘earthly’) nature.
A propos de l’auteur
M. David Litwa (Ph D) is currently an instructor in Greek at the University of Virginia. He is author of We Are Being Transformed: Deification in Paul’s Soteriology (de Gruyter, 2012) and Iesus Deus: The Depiction of Jesus as a Mediterranean God (Fortress, forthcoming).
Plus d’ebooks du même auteur(s) / Éditeur
137 596 Ebooks dans cette catégorie
![Couverture du Brian Schrag & Julisa Rowe: Community Arts for God's Purposes [Chinese] 貼近神心意的社群藝術](https://static.worldofdigitals.com/thumb_webp/740/9781645083740.webp "Couverture du Brian Schrag & Julisa Rowe: Community Arts for God's Purposes [Chinese] 貼近神心意的社群藝術")
