How is a personal god different from an anthropomorphic god?

[bennyboy]

@bennyboy, That's not quite right. It's not just about form but also traits.

"The attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object."
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/def...pomorphism

Every discussion about words goes to this.  Guy A knows the eytmology, and states the literal meaning of the word based on the composition of its parts.  Guy B goes to a dictionary, and shows that the common usage includes another meaning-- conclusive proof that the word means what he says it means.  Which is right?  I lean toward the etymology, because it gives finer shades of distinction among synonyms.  It's not so much that it's "right," but I think holding on to original meanings adds more utility to the many "synonyms" we have which are slightly different in their composition: like the words in the OP, for example.

Otherwise, you could very easily claim that personality and anthropomorphism are the same thing, since their dictionary definitions overlap.  That's fine, too, but I prefer the additional shading that can be achieved by knowing what the parts of words mean, not what the dictionary says about modern usage.

If you want to use a dictionary, then everyone's opinion is right, and it becomes very hard to distinguish the meanings of words from each other until you analyze the collective meanings as sets:

anthropomorphism

1. ascribing human form or attributes to a being or thing not human, especially to a deity.

2. resembling or made to resemble a human form:
an anthropomorphic carving.

personality

1. the visible aspect of one's character as it impresses others:
He has a pleasing personality.

2. a person as an embodiment of a collection of qualities:
He is a curious personality.

3. Psychology. a.the sum total of the physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics of an individual.
b.the organized pattern of behavioral characteristics of the individual.

4. the quality of being a person; existence as a self-conscious human being; personal identity.

5. the essential character of a person.

6. something apprehended as reflective of or analogous to a distinctive human personality, as the atmosphere of a place or thing:
This house has a warm personality.

7. a famous, notable, or prominent person; celebrity.

Both definition sets indicate that abstract properties justify usage of each word-- so talking about "Fluffy" as a person rather than a cat works for both words. However, if we look at the difference, you'll see that the definition of personality does NOT mention the physical composition of a person, but only abstract properties. Also, you can sense that the flavor of the definition for "anthropomorphism" heavily skews toward form, even though "or attributes" opens the meaning a lot. The definitions overlap, but not completely.

The OP asks about the differences between these words. The difference is that anthropormorphism can refer to physical form, but personality does not.

To be fair, even in the Christian world, you see both interpretations all the time. I've heard many Christians say that God is a person with 10 fingers and 10 toes. I've heard others say that "man was created in God's image" only means that we are unlike animals in that we have minds, souls and free wills.


--edit--
The etymology for "person" comes from the Latin persōna (role, as in playing your part in life). But this in turn comes from the Greek prósōpa (mask, face). This is interesting because while NONE of the listed definitions of personality from dictionary.com refer to form, the historical definition is based on something strongly structured: a mask.