In defense of the NAB Bible "holy Spirit"

[Spyridon]

An issue which some people have raised with the NAB Bible has been it’s usage in the New Testament of “holy Spirit” instead of “Holy Spirit.”

I personally used to have an issue with this - until I discovered, quite to my surprise, that this usage is actually the usage of the original 1582 Rheims New Testament (the first complete Catholic NT translation in early modern English).

Behold:

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

Now, personally, I prefer “Holy Spirit” - and so does the Vatican, as that was one of the edits made to the NAB text for its use in the Lectionary. However, the lower case h usage is in no way modernist or heretical - unless you consider the original Douai Rheims to be modern or heretical!

 

[adgloriam]

Interesting detail.

Back in 1582 they had a completely different idea of what books ought to be. And handling books from that time period screams quality in every minor option taken. As for usage of lower case it must have been a convention of the time - given the rigorous revision of every printed work back then, by inquisition censors and royal censors.

 

[Roseeurekacross]

An issue which some people have raised with the NAB Bible has been it’s usage in the New Testament of “holy Spirit” instead of “Holy Spirit.”

Do you mean Holy Ghost instead of Holy Spirit

 

[Spyridon]

No, the NAB does not use Holy Ghost.

 

[Roseeurekacross]

See where you wrote Holy Spirit twice.

Holy Spirit instead of Holy Spirit.

What is the difference you were pointing out. In the old Bible there you have highlighted Holy Ghost

 

[Spyridon]

The capital h in holy.

 

[Roseeurekacross]

Ok. Why did you use a reference that is from the 1500s that uses Holy Ghost

 

[Spyridon]

Because my point was to show that the usage of lowercase h “holy Spirit” was not some modern or heretical invention by the NAB editors, but rather the most ancient and traditional usage of the original English Catholic Bible.

I’ve seen people who criticize the NAB for it’s use of “holy Spirit” and it’s really not a big deal when you consider the pedigree for that specific orthographic quirk.

 

[Roseeurekacross]

I believe the convention might be lower case h and perhaps s in the Old Testament.

More modern day convention is upper case H and S in the New Testament.

Maybe @CRM_Brother can help us out here.

The NJB uses that convention.

 

[CRM_Brother]

There are some historical and translation issues which may be the case here. I do not have access to a copy of the Codex Vaticanus to confirm, however, so this is just conjecture. In most of the manuscripts I have seen of the original Greek of the Old Testament, there is no distinction between lower and upper case (nor are there spaces between the words, actually). It appears that this was just a styling of the Latin language which was adopted over time. I know that differing treatments of the Holy Spirit appear at different times in different languages purely due to the lingual rules of the time. The Douai-Rheims was written in the language of the times (turn of the 17th century) and as such does not necessarily convey modern usage.

That being said, the NAB, and especially the NABRE, consulted the original Greek to understand the Latin meaning more fully. In the Greek, the word used for holy in this case is Makarion which can mean either happy or holy or blessed. There are varied usages of this word in the New Testament, so I believe the translators left the word as a simple adjective rather than taking it upon themselves to impose modern usages upon the original language.

The third person of the Trinity is truly holy. One cannot separate Him from His holiness and it is that indivisible holiness which allows us to distinguish Him as God among other spiritual beings (angels). Other spiritual beings may posses holiness, but only to a finite degree. They may be holy spirits. One can speak of the holy Spirit of Portugal, that is the holy Angel of Portugal which appeared to the shepherds of Fatima. This is why I believe that the capitalization has shifted, to denote His primacy and separation from other spiritual beings.