steamer

Does anyone know the origin of the character known as holy spirit? Did it suddenly just show up in the bible or did it have any other history?

Andykiwi

That's usually believed to be the the Holy Spirit.

Sidereus Nuncius

I guess my question would be how the gospel authors/early Christians came to understand the "spirit of God" as an entity unto itself. So far as I know, we see the term "ruach" in Hebrew or "pneuma" in greek throughout the Jewish scriptures as a way to describe an animating force, sometimes just "life" itself, but at other times an extra something special from the deity. In Genesis 1:7 he gives Adam the "breath of life," which is then taken away from mankind in the flood, meaning that they died. But then in the histories, when the "spirit of the Lord" is on various figures, they become strong, full of vigor, and ready to do "the Lord"'s bidding.

The phrase is also used several times in Isaiah and Ezekiel to refer to the passionate prophetic impulse, which Luke deems important enough to have Jesus quote. It seems obvious on the surface that the early community must have had the earlier sense of the word in mind, but I can't say I know what other influences shaped the Holy Spirit to mean what it does today, or even what it meant by the Council of Nicea. There's the personified Wisdom of proverbs to consider as well, not to mention the feminized image of the Shekhina.

Perhaps others can shed a bit more light on the issue.

No Robots

Very nice post, Sidereus. You are exactly right. The Holy Spirit of Christian religion is an egregious distortion of Jewish spiritual doctrine.

RareBird

Regardless of what history reflects the "trinity" may be something other than what history reflects. Please consider this demystification:

The trinity is allegorical. It is not literal. The "father" is allegorical for the past, the "son" is allegorical for the future, and alive between past and future is the present in which the spirit LIVES.

As an essence of wisdom one elder or one society or one civilization might want to convey to its "sons" is a framework for making honorable and proper decisions. Very simply the trinity could have been a vocalization of solemnity which people would use when confronted with grave decision in which they would call upon the knowledge of the past, consider the potential future and act in the present with the spirit.

This came upon your writer when I once faced a great decision and solemnly said to myself: in the name of all there has ever been and all that shall ever be let us recognize ourselves here and now as holders of the holy spirit of forever charged with the duty to do honor to past and future in our actions. Then, it occurred to me that the father would be symbolic of the past, the son symbolic of the future and alive in the here and now between both are us--holders of the "holy spirit" of forever.

This may have been behind the original model for wisdom and it would be typical for such to be expressed in male personages for the region and peoples from which it came. The Roman Catholics however, began to take this literally rather than figuratively and we have been stuck with a "holy spirit" which has never made any sense since. The holy spirit is in us as we are charged with the living duty to honor the past, consider the future and act in the present.

The secret to seeing this is to trade the linear picture of past, present and future, for the non-linear power of stepping out of time and seeing both past and future as necessary considerations for action in the present. In a savage world with no order, something like this would be a huge first start in uplifting a society to ethics. All the repressive "thou shalt nots" in the world do not convey what it is that thou "shalt" do. The first basic step beyond what thou shalt not do is to consider the past, envision the future and do honor to both in the present. Now, bring on the attack I get every time I express this interpretation. Or surprise me and share the simple logic. Thanks.

No Robots

^I like it! Spirit is presence.

Sidereus Nuncius

Hi, No Robots, thanks for your positive input!

RareBird, I wouldn't think of attacking you. It sounds like your model has been very meaningful to you, and has helped you out through your life. But I'd like to point out that it's [I]your[I] model. You've engaged the NT texts in a literary and spiritual way, and found a meaning that is unique to you. Perhaps that's why some other people don't share your interpretation. They just haven't been through the same experiences.

As to whether or not the early Christians saw the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a metaphor for past, present, and future is another question, one that would require some textual evidence to discover. People have interpreted the trinity in a whole myriad of ways over the centuries, but it was in the Catholic Church that the "three persons of one essence" model was codified.

Personally I think many Christians would get more out of their faith if they thought about what the text meant to them, rather than believing any handed down explanation. But neither should anyone expect others to automatically accept their own highly personal thoughts.

Chili

Hi bird, sounds a bit rare to me especially since your son is to have presence in the future while we have him in the past, or rather had him in the past to bring heaven down to earth in an organized world where infallibility is a necessary condition in the eternal presence of the son = Christ with us and we have the HS on board to make that know to all who want to listen.

From our point of view the trinity collapsed when the father and son became one which left the HS without purpose and descended upon Rome when Christ came home to Rome. We have the Coronation in place to confirm that she is the umbrella of wisdom that shines upon the world of those who call upon her.