by David Kramer

Created on: July 02, 2010

Man can be god, but never can man be God. This can be demonstrated both theologically and grammatically.  Grammatically there is a difference in syntax of what term should be used to describe a concept or group versus a specific entity.  Theologically the division of entities is described.

Man typically refers to a human and while it can be used to refer to a specific gender of humanity, it is often an abbreviated form or human and genderless.  With movements in equality, however, a stronger distinction has been emphasized, at least in the United States, to differentiate man and woman.

God is a term that is also loosely used in society.   When capitalized, it is often intended to represent a deity or objected of higher authority or worthy of worship.  When in lower case, it is often intended to represent and idol or lesser god than the supreme God.

The capitalization of the word, just like the capitalization of Lord, or Father, is typically an indication of substituting the name of the supreme God with words that describe the relationship between God and man.  It acts much like a personal pronoun, like the word “I” which is capitalized because it is not a name of a particular person but is referencing a particular person.  

Another example is the word university.  The word is typically not capitalized (of course if it is the first word of an English sentence it is capitalized).  If a person is speaking of a specific university, for example, Lawrence Technological University, but abbreviating it to University, then the word is grammatically capitalized to indicate University is in reference to a specific entity.

“I went to Lawrence Tech.  The University is in Michigan.  I found it to be a good university.” The preceding sentence demonstrates how capitalization is used to set context and relationship.  The first use of the word is capitalized, because it is substituting the name of the school.  The second instance of the word is not capitalized because it is generically speaking of schools as a whole.

The word god is similar. When God is capitalized it is speaking of a very specific entity.  When it is lower case, it is speaking of a concept.  Man can be a god, but cannot be God, unless man is declaring to be the ultimate authority. This would be arrogant, and quickly refuted by all the mistakes mankind has made over the centuries and denying that even nature

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