Holy Ghost vs. Holy Spirit translation

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They both mean Exactly the same portion of God…

Think: In 1000’s of languages - 1000’s of Vernaculae terms - point to God’s Essence
 
Here is one mention of ghost as we would expect it to be used.

Luke 24
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
 
Hello MockSock,

I am probably throwing a wrench in the works but to the question as to whether “Holy Ghost” or “Holy Spirit” is the best translation, my answer would probably be “None of the Above”.

Let me explain.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word used for ‘Spirit’ is rauch (I haven’t figured out how to type Hebrew characters so the transliteration will have to do). The word used in the New Testament is πνευμα (pneuma). Both words have the exact same meaning and usage. The only difference is that rauch is feminine and pneuma is gender neutral. These words do mean wind and breath as well as what is most closely resembled in English as spirit but they have a much greater connotation in Hebrew and Greek than these words alone. To translate them simply as spirit strips away much of the meaning.

Rauch and pneuma were a metaphysical force contained not only within one’s immaterial soul but also within the act of breathing and the breath itself. The pneuma sustained life. When someone breaths pneuma in, that pneuma carries with it the spirit/lifeof wherever that pneuma originated. The spirit/life of that external source then becomes part of the spirit/life of the one who breathed it in. That person then breathes their pneuma out, sending their own spirit/life back into the world.

Pneuma and rauch was, according to the Hebrew and Greek mindset of the time, the taking in of the life of the world, sustaining your body with that life, and then expelling that life back into the world. It was in this sense that God was the one to first breathe life into man.

This concept of pneuma was part of the division of the Sadducees and Pharisees. The Saducees believed, like the Greeks, that man’s pneuma simply left the body at death, returning to the world around it. It was for this reason that they did not believe in the afterlife, although some did profess the immortality of the soul, for the pneuma of a person was never really destroyed and instead imparted the persons life to others. Pharisees believed that the first and last breathing of pneuma was connected. God breathed his pneuma into us at some point during pregnacy and that same pneuma returned to God upon that person’s death. God’s pneuma had united with the spirit/life of the person so that person returned to God with it.

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This is where we come to the answer to your question. Personally, I think “Holy Breath of Life” may be a more accurate translation in modern English of ‘Αγιο πνευμα (Holy Spirit in Greek) when taking into account the vast connotation of the word within the Hebrew and Greek cultures in which the Bible was written. We generally understand the Holy Spirit as the love between the Father and the Son. By understanding Spirit, this relationship is unfolds. The Father breathes his entire being out in his Pneuma to the Son. The Son accepts this Pneuma encapsulating the infinite divinity of the Father into himself. The Son then breathes this Pneuma back to the Father. After the Resurrection, however, the Son has also turned to mankind and breathed that Pneuma which originated in the Father and carries with it the identity of the Son out into the Church.

One of my favorite descriptions of the Holy Spirit is from Ven. Fulton J Sheen. He said that the Father and the Son were eternally forehead to forehead in an ultimate, intimate contemplation and the Holy Spirit was the great sigh of longing love which passes between them. Both breathe in and out this intimate sigh of love and through Christ’s Paschal Mystery, the Church has been raised to a position between their lips. The sigh of love fills the Church and grants them life.

I am in no way not advocating the changing of ‘Holy Spirit’ and ‘Holy Ghost’ in Bibles to ‘Holy Breath of Life’. I simply find both of them greatly lacking in the original meaning with which ‘Αγιο πνευμα was written.

Practically, I believe ‘Holy Spirit’ is the most prudent choice when taking into account the modern connotations of ‘Ghost’. It partially preserves this connotation of ‘breath’ through the Latin root spiratus, meaning ‘the man which has been breathed’.

For most of the English speaking world, “Holy Spirit” is the proper form for Liturgy as this is the term which has been approved by the Vatican in the various liturgical texts. England, Ireland and Scotland, however, have been granted an exception to the usage of this term due to the cultural and historic usage of “Holy Ghost” within the British Isles. This was granted, in part, so that dialogue with the Churches of England, Ireland and Scotland could continue with equivalent terms.

Stay safe, stay healthy and above all, God Bless!

Ben
 
EricPH said:
Here is one mention of ghost as we would expect it to be used.

Luke 24
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
Click to expand...
Yes… A spirit. …

_
 
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