[Vocabulary] What is "a touch of divinity"?

[michael147]

A Roman Catholic priest, who served as an army chaplain during the Korean War, is the latest recipient of the Medal of Honor. Today President Obama bestowed the medal posthumously on Emil Kapaun, who died as a prisoner of war at the age of 35. But his story lived on through the troops he saved in various ways from braving enemy fire to caring for captured soldiers’ wounds. Obama said during a White House ceremony today that Kapaun showed a touch of divinity in the worst of circumstances.


What is "a touch of divinity"?

Your help will be appreciated.

 

[Raymott]

A Roman Catholic priest, who served as an army chaplain during the Korean War, is the latest recipient of the Medal of Honor. Today President Obama bestowed the medal posthumously on Emil Kapaun, who died as a prisoner of war at the age of 35. But his story lived on through the troops he saved in various ways from braving enemy fire to caring for captured soldiers’ wounds. Obama said during a White House ceremony today that Kapaun showed a touch of divinity in the worst of circumstances.


What is "a touch of divinity"?

Your help will be appreciated.

"a touch of" means a small amount of, a hint of. It could also mean, more literally, "a divine touch" (manner, style, attitude).
Apparently Obama is describing this man's brave and caring but purely human behaviour as divine because the man was a priest.

 

[BobK]

...
Apparently Obama is describing this man's brave and caring but purely human behaviour as divine because the man was a priest.

I doubt it. He was just saying what Shakespeare had said: 'So shines a good deed in a naughty world'. It is the Christian belief that any individual can be, in some sense, 'God-like' - not just, nor even especially, priests. ;-)

b

PS Come to think of it, that belief is what Christianity is all about. But this is not the place to pursue that argument.

 

[Raymott]

Indeed, it's not the place to discuss religion. But if the guy wasn't a chaplain/priest, I don't think Obama would refer to his actions (braving enemy fire to care for soldier's wounds) as 'divine'. Maybe if the chaplain had been performing miracles ...

 

[5jj]

Indeed, it's not the place to discuss religion. But if the guy wasn't a chaplain/priest, I don't think Obama would refer to his actions (braving enemy fire to care for soldier's wounds) as 'divine'.

Probably not. However, I agree with Bob that Obama was suggesting some 'God-like-ness' about about the priest. Indeed, when I first read it, I thought that Obama's words might strike some religious people as sacrilege. I realised that they probably would not when I read Bob's "It is the Christian belief that any individual can be, in some sense, 'God-like'".