Deificatio

"Deificatio hominis" or just "deificatio" is the Latin term used in theology for the idea of a man trying to become more like God. Often people say "deification", which is bad terminology. It already has a main meaning, and that main meaning is completely different, almost opposite, since it is to make something into an idol, treating it as God. The idea here is not to set yourself up falsely as God, but to make yourself slightly more like God and diminish your own contrary will. The Greek term “Theosis”is better, maybe; I don’t grasp the Eastern Orthodox concept very well. “Sanctification” is good. “Divinization” is okay, but sounds too much like “divining”, as in fortune-telling.

See J. A. A. Stoop, Die Deificatio Hominis in die Sermones en Episiulae van Augustinus. Leiden: Drukkerij 'Luctor et emergo,' 1952, which is cited in https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item?id=NQ54049&op=pdf&app=Library&oclc_number=52154188 .