sb. and a. [ad. L. anthropōmorphītæ (Aug.), a. Gr. ἀνθρωπομορφῖται: see ANTHROPOMORPHOUS and -ITE.]
A. sb. One ascribing (as an article of religious belief) a human form to God; spec. applied to a. A sect that arose in Egypt in the 4th century; b. A party in the Western Church in the 10th c.
1561. T. N[orton], Calvin’s Inst., I. xiii. (1634), 43. The Anthropomorphites … which have imagined God to consist of a body.
1661. Origen’s Opin., in Phœnix (1721), I. 8. Some unlearned Monks of Egypt … called by him [Origen] Anthropomorphites.
1872. O. Shipley, Gloss. Eccl. Terms, Andæans … were Anthropomorphites, attributing to God a human form, parts, and passions.
B. attrib. or as adj.; = ANTHROPOMORPHITIC.
1662. Glanvill, Lux Orient., iv. (1682), 43. The dull and coarse Anthropomorphite Doctrines.
1798. W. Taylor, in Month. Rev., XXV. 516. For a mythology to be adapted to the purposes of the artist, it suffices that the religion be anthropomorphite.
