It was an older way of using English.
Humans are a kind of animal. Humans via culture, religions, some civiliities, parenting, schooling, are taught, openly and implicitly, that they should get rid of part of their natures. Thus they are partial creatures. Not full creatures, at least most humans. It would be as if lions tied one paws to another. Or deciding that roaring was bad. Or deer decided that fear was not love and so they did not run from predators. And so on.
The elites are very fractioned humans. They let themselves do shit they would not tolerate in the masses, but they are really limited humans, even if many of them are clever.
We are the only animals that create internal slave systems. That make parts of ourselves prisoners to other parts. Because this supposedly makes us good. Or becuase it makes us not animals. Or because it is a good heuristic.
And this is not restricted to religions. A look through forums like this one and even more so in more rigorous philosophy forums and you will see that was is considered the highest is really tight assed. And for these guys, everything they believe is rational, they think. One need not have intution or emotions, in fact these are either neutral qualia or negative.