Concept

Apotheosis

Overview

Apotheosis (from Ancient Greek ἀποθέωσις (apothéōsis), from ἀποθεόω/ἀποθεῶ (apotheóō/apotheô) 'to deify'), also called divinization or deification (from Latin deificatio 'making divine'), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity.

Apotheosis relates to religion and is the subject of many works of art. Figuratively, "apotheosis" may be used in almost any context for "the deification, glorification, or exaltation of a principle, practice, etc.", so normally attached to an abstraction of some sort.

Apotheosis is a feature of many religions in the world, and some that are active today. It is a belief in a possibility of newly created gods, so a polytheistic belief system. The Abrahamic religions of Islam, and Judaism do not allow for this, though many recognize minor sacred categories such as saints (created by a process called canonization). In Christian theology there is a concept of the faithful becoming god-like, called divinization or in Eastern Christianity theosis. In Hinduism there is some scope for new deities. A human may be deified by becoming regarded as an avatar of an established deity, usually a major one, or by being regarded as a new, independent, deity (usually a minor one), or some mixture of the two.

In art, an apotheosis scene typically shows the subject in the heavens or rising towards them, often accompanied by a number of angels, putti, personifications of virtues, or similar figures. Especially from Baroque art onwards, apotheosis scenes may depict rulers, generals or artists purely as an honorific metaphor; in many cases the "religious" context is classical Greco-Roman pagan religion, as in The Apotheosis of Voltaire, featuring Apollo. The Apotheosis of Washington (1865), high up in the dome of the United States Capitol Building, is another example. Personifications of places or abstractions are also showed receiving an apotheosis. The typical composition was suitable for placement on ceilings or inside domes.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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And because good is convertible with being, as one is also; he called God the absolute good, from whom all things are called good by way of participation.
Aquinas Thomas, Summa Theologica, Part I
States what Apotheosis is; the author is tied to Apotheosis in the knowledge graph.
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When, in the place of that religion of social benevolence, and of individual self-denial, in mockery of all religion, they institute impious, blasphemous, indecent theatric rites, in honour of their vitiated, perverted reason, and erect altars to the personification of their own corrupted and bloody republic;--when schools and seminaries are founded at the public expense to poison mankind, from generation to…
Edmund Burke, Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke
Opens on Apotheosis; names Apotheosis.
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Impotence to power, how it disguises itself and plays the hypocrite, as obedience, subordination, the pride of duty and morality, submission, devotion, love (the idolisation and apotheosis of the commander is a kind of compensation, and indirect self-enhancement). It veils itself further under fatalism and resignation, objectivity, self-tyranny, stoicism, asceticism, self-abnegation, hallowing. Other disguises are…
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Will to Power
Opens on Apotheosis; names Apotheosis.
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Philosophers who discussed Apotheosis

Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Salvation in Christianity

Place in the tradition

Part of Modernism.

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