Last summer I first stumbled upon the Greek philosopher Xenophanes who famously speculated more than 2,500 years ago that if animals had means to create art, they would depict their gods in their own image, in other words, as animals.

Yesterday, I researched “Man created God in his own image,” the dictum that reverses the biblical phrase “God created man in his own image”.

It goes back to Sigmund Freud and ultimately to Ludwig Feuerbach.

Feuerbach, whom I know via French Situationist Guy Debord, who quoted him in The Society of the Spectacle.

Freud, who saw the reverse dictum as exemplary in his psychological projection theory.

Connected terms are anthropology of religion, Image of God, theomorphism, depiction of God, and anthropotheism.

The illustration (above) is Michelangelo’s detail of Sistine Chapel fresco Creation of the Sun and Moon by which depicts God as an old man with a white beard.

Makes sense, doesn’t it?