Cognitive and Ideological Aspects of Divine Anthropomorphism

After overstressing the experiential andsui generisaspects of religion, recent scholarship has returned to the exploration of the cognitive dimensions of religious phenomena (while still neglecting their ideological and evolutionary aspects). This article explores the cognitive aspects of divine anthropomorphism, approaching anthropomorphism as a metaphor for human agency. At the same time, the ideological aspects of anthropomorphic representations are studied in the context of political centralization and the emergence of kingship, seeking to clarify the connections between anthropomorphism and basileomorphism.