Literary notes about deification (AI summary)
The word deification in literature carries a broad range of meanings, oscillating between the literal transformation of human or historical figures into divine entities and a more metaphorical exaltation of abstract ideals. Some authors portray it as a process where emperors or notable individuals—such as Caesar or other heroic figures—are elevated posthumously into godlike statuses ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]). In other contexts, deification is used to encapsulate the elevation of abstract concepts, such as progress, beauty, or even the human condition itself ([7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12]). Moreover, certain philosophical and mystical texts invoke deification to explore the transformative union between mortal existence and the divine ([13], [14], [15], [16], [17]), while some works critically address the societal and cultural implications of such exaltations ([18], [19], [20]). This multiplicity of uses underscores deification's versatility as a literary device for interrogating the boundaries between the earthly and the transcendent.
- [ Contents ] Deification of Noted Persons.
— from The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 1 (of 2) by William Crooke - His death, of which I shall now speak, and his subsequent deification, were intimated by divers manifest prodigies.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - The deification of the emperors is the only instance in which they departed from their accustomed prudence and modesty.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - The deification of Julius Caesar while Emperor of Rome, is scarcely referred to in the more familiar literary sources of Roman history.
— from Woman, Church & State
The Original Exposé of Male Collaboration Against the Female Sex by Matilda Joslyn Gage - The deification of the emperors 21 is the only instance in which they departed from their accustomed prudence and modesty.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - The deification of his emperor was the only religious instinct which impelled him.
— from Ambassador Morgenthau's Story by Henry Morgenthau - The philosopher of the Superman adroitly filled the vacancy by the deification of Man.
— from Modernities by Horace Barnett Samuel - Art is essentially the affirmation, the blessing, and the deification of existence."
— from Nietzsche and Art by Anthony M. (Anthony Mario) Ludovici - Even this poem is a deification of progress through effort, not through repose.
— from Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning by Robert Browning - How people can bring themselves to use india-rubber rings, which are a sort of deification of string, as lightly as they do, I cannot imagine.
— from Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell - The great classic idea, the deification, the worship of beauty, was completed by the ancients.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 64, No.394, August, 1848 by Various - The whole essence of Catholicism, however, consists in the deification of tradition generally.
— from History of Dogma, Volume 2 by Adolf von Harnack - Nicholas appeared as the apostle of love in and through which the mystical deification of man is accomplished.
— from Church History, Volume 2 (of 3) by J. H. (Johann Heinrich) Kurtz - But in the case of the apostle Paul, who had never seen Him, the process of deification could go on unchecked.
— from The Origin of Paul's Religion by J. Gresham (John Gresham) Machen - [Pg 167] With the former we shall celebrate the incarnation of God from all eternity; with the latter the necessary deification of man.
— from Prolegomena to the Study of Hegel's Philosophy, and Especially of His Logic by William Wallace - The deification is the highest possible resemblance to God and union with Him.
— from A Source Book for Ancient Church History by Joseph Cullen Ayer - The deification of man: such is the popular translation of the philosophy of the idea.
— from The Heavenly Father: Lectures on Modern Atheism by Ernest Naville - In other words, the idea of God may be arrived at either by personification or by deification.
— from Shinto (the Way of the Gods) by W. G. (William George) Aston - The two great sources of religious thought, personification and deification, are constantly intermingling their streams and reacting upon each other.
— from Shinto (the Way of the Gods) by W. G. (William George) Aston - [208] In the tenth and latest book of the Rigveda , “the deification of purely abstract ideas, such as Wrath and Faith, appears for the first time.”
— from The Origin of Man and of His Superstitions by Carveth Read