theophany

American  

[thee-of-uh-nee] / θiˈɒf ə ni /

noun

• theophanies
  plural

1. a manifestation or appearance of God or a god to a person.

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theophany British  

/ θɪˈɒfənɪ /

noun

1. theol a manifestation of a deity to man in a form that, though visible, is not necessarily material

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• theophanic
  adjective
• theophanous
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• theophanies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of theophany

1625–35; < Late Latin theophania < Late Greek theopháneia. See theo-, -phany

Explanation

When someone believes she has seen a true vision of God, it can be called a theophany. A theophany is an experience that many people hope for but few achieve: seeing an actual deity. Eastern and ancient Greek religions, as well as Christianity and Judaism, describe various types of theophanies. The Greek roots mean "god" and "appearance," and they show up in hundreds of other English words — theology, theocracy, and monotheism all come from theos, or god, and diaphanous, sycophant, and phantom come from phainein, "to show or to appear."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

theophany theophanies

Robben, perhaps somewhat immodest, seemed to agree that the stadium had just witnessed a kind of theophany: "Everybody was tired in extra-time but I found my second life," he said.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 28, 2010

In the Priestly Code it almost loses the character of a theophany entirely.

From Prolegomena by Julius Wellhausen

Is it credible that he would not have made mention of a revelation or a theophany, had either fallen to his lot?

From The Silesian Horseherd - Questions of the Hour by F. Max (Friedrich Max) Müller

The expression is notable, for the song of the sky is thunder and the theophany that of Sinai.

From The Lords of the Ghostland A History of the Ideal by Edgar Saltus

Before anything has happened, before the Midianites have made their yearly incursion, Gideon, who expects nothing of the kind, is summoned by a theophany to battle against them.

From Prolegomena by Julius Wellhausen

But generally the influence of the divine or divinised being is more directly exercised, as in oracles, dreams, invisible touches, or actual theophanies, or appearances of the gods to the adoring patient.

From Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death by F. W. H. (Frederic William Henry) Myers

This explains a number of theophanies in the Bible, such as the burning bush, "the glory of the Lord," the cloud in the wilderness, and so on.

From A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy by Isaac Husik

Then the sermonizer proceeds to relate some famous Bible story, resolving its naïve Semitic theophanies, its pictorial narration, its primitive morality, into the terms of contemporary ethical or political or economic principles.

From Preaching and Paganism by Albert Parker Fitch

But when it is argued that wondrous theophanies are common to all faiths, two replies present themselves.

From The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Exodus by G. A. Chadwick

It deals in no etymology, no proverbs nor songs, no miracles, theophanies nor dreams, and is destitute of all that many-coloured poetic charm which adorns the Jehovistic narratives.

From Prolegomena by Julius Wellhausen