Talk:Holy Spirit

The proposition put forward here as the Hindu view of Holy Spirit strikes me as implausible in the extreme.

As it stands this section screams "idiosyncratic mumblings of some California professor" to me.

As for the idea that there is "a Hindu view" of ""the" Holy Spirit," I think the article would have to establish that there is any such idea before making good-hearted ecumenical, or other, claims about what the idea's content might be.

David Lloyd-Jones (talk) 21:36, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

You have a point. A lot of the existing material seems to relate to the Trinity, not the Holy Spirit per se. Does what is written below look any better to you?

In Hinduism, the concept of Advaita has been indicated as a parallel to the Christianity view of the Trinity, and in North India Indian Christians have associated the Hindu term Atman, the Ultimate reality or absolute, directly with the Holy Spirit.^[1] The relation has been discussed by comparative religion scholar Raimon Panikkar. He called the Holy Spirit, as one of the Three Persons of the Trinity of "father, Logos and Holy Spirit", a possible bridge builder between Christianity and Hinduism, saying “The meeting of spiritualistic can take place in the Spirit. No new 'system' has primarily to come of this encounter, but a new and yet old spirit must emerges."^[2]

I agree, it's nonsense. If there's any Hindu equivalent of the Holy Spirit it's the usually-dormant spiritual energy inhabiting the body known as kundalini shakti. Philip St. Romain’s book, "Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality" covers this parallel. I would quote from it but have no copy currently. 90.215.11.206 (talk) 22:25, 18 May 2020 (UTC)

I remembered a while back while browsing through Wikipedia that there was a section on this article on Zoroastrianism, but I noticed recently that it was removed for some reason. If there is a brief section on Hinduism and Buddhism, then surely Zoroastrianism also deserves a section, as it is mentioned very frequently in their belief system. However, I will indeed try to check the existing sources and replace them with more reliable and appropriate ones if possible. Aldergarbo (talk) 05:28, 30 April 2018 (UTC)

After looking at them, I believe the sources used were indeed unsuitable, and have replaced them with several new ones. The concept of a Holy Spirit is indeed central to the Zoroastrian faith as I understand it, and I do not believe it should be entirely omitted from the article. Aldergarbo (talk) 06:03, 30 April 2018 (UTC)

Do most religions like Judaism and Bahai Faith say that the Holy Spirit is male and/or female, or essentially genderless? Should it be mentioned somewhere in the article maybe?? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.24.111.89 (talk) 21:43, 11 September 2018 (UTC)

I think the Jewish Encyclopedia has some information: "The spirit talks sometimes with a masculine and sometimes with a feminine voice (Eccl. vii. 29 [A. V. 28]); i.e., as the word "ruaḥ" is both masculine and feminine, the Holy Spirit was conceived as being sometimes a man and sometimes a woman." it also says something about "Shekinah" as well, which apparently may or may not sometimes be the same concept: "The Shekinah tinkled like a bell (Soṭah 9b), while the Holy Spirit also manifested itself to human senses in light and sound. The Holy Spirit had the form of a dove, and the Shekinah had wings." -- http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7833-holy-spirit http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13537-shekinah

In Buddhism is a Christian imposition of a false equivilency & narrative. It is offensive, and misleading, and propaganda. It does not imo belong in Wikipedia. Db919 (talk) 22:05, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

Cutrent text of section for reference: "Buddhism "In Buddhism, Holy Spirit is compared to Buddha-nature as a Buddhist image or Christ consciousness, a oneness with an all encompassing plan. Hence, the Holy Spirit is considered the "means of which the faithful develop and journey to their spiritual goal."[42] Citation makes it clear:

Thomas Ragland (2003). The Noble Eightfold Path of Christ: Jesus Teaches the Dharma of Buddhism. Trafford Publishing. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-4120-0013-0.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Db919 (talk • contribs) 22:10, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

I would agree, the source appears to be a book of advice and evangelism, not scholarship. 73.71.251.64 (talk) 02:48, 26 October 2019 (UTC)

Is this the spirit of man or something else — Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.160.166.110 (talk) 16:06, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

The spirit is the holly spirit, known to guide prophets and messangers and even jesus talked to god through him 197.119.67.157 (talk) 18:31, 5 April 2024 (UTC)

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Rooah. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 May 22#Rooah until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Jay (talk) 18:09, 22 May 2021 (UTC)

I have noticed that the first input definition only talks about what the Jews believe which does not represent the 3 Abrahamic religions like Islam or Christianity.

Since each Abrahamic religion has a different definition of the Holy Spirit, it seems appropriate to leave in the entry definition of the article what each religion believes.--Rafaelosornio (talk) 21:19, 22 November 2021 (UTC)

Sounds about right, and fulfills neutrality and undue. Probably the only controversy with this would concern wording. What wording would you go with? Randy Kryn (talk) 21:27, 22 November 2021 (UTC)

It is difficult to redact the article since each religion (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) believe something different about the Holy Spirit. I hope the wording can be improved. In my opinion it should be mentioned what each religion believes.--Rafaelosornio (talk) 23:08, 22 November 2021 (UTC)

The Bible, the new one, the one that's only 2000 years old, talks of "powers of the Holy Spirit," reserved for those who are deemed by God to be worthy, and useful, and of some idea that good and bad aren't just imaginary ideas, and that that there is life anywhere in the Universe is something like a miracle. Speaking in a voice like James Earl Jones must be one of them. What others are there? Zahadan (talk) 02:04, 4 December 2021 (UTC)

I don't know about "powers". We have an article on spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit.

• "These abilities, often termed "charismatic gifts", are the word of knowledge, increased faith, the gifts of healing, the gift of miracles, prophecy, the discernment of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues."

I hear someone praying in latin and repeating the words: Spirit de sancti ! I can not hear anything of the first parts if the baptism prayer.. I see a image of someone casting holy water on an coffin with their hand, and repeating just Spirit de sancti.. Men named Johannes, and/or "Paulus the first" are there. It looks like a funeral. If I could hear something in latin like this, translate it and then see that it says: The Holy Spirit, and actually is a sentence that makes me believe that I could hear them pray fir their dead pope.. While another pope is praying and then sprinkling holy water on the casket with his right hand I think.... It must be a sign ? I do not speak any latin before I heard this beeing said like at a seremony, at the vatican most likely.. Medium88 (talk) 06:27, 7 August 2023 (UTC)

Strange to have a page on holy spirit that does not manage to mention that ruah in hebrew also means breath/wind, and that the original greek translation of the bible used "pneuma", which also means "breath". Would interestingly connect to the vedic notion of agni, the "breath" or "fire". 2A04:EE41:4:1111:1088:833:4BF6:F7A6 (talk) 19:39, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

This article is so far off base about Judaism that it should be considered to be a form of missionizing. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity#Judaism and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shituf#Judaism's_views_of_the_Trinity_doctrine and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Spirit_in_Judaism#%22Spirit_of_God%22

I will make the necessary changes to remove any reference to a Jewish belief in the topic of this article if no one else disagrees. Ruttgc49 17:43, 15 May 2024 (UTC)

Changes made.

Rationale: The placement of Judaism at the top of an article which discusses a concept that is much more pertinent to the belief system of Nicene Christianity as well as easily being misinterpreted as a similar part of belief in Judaism is misleading. Due to the emphasis of Judaism on a Unitary God, it would imply the inclusion of a trinity like system of belief, where in fact such a system is antithetical to such beliefs. Ruttgc49 23:33, 4 September 2024 (UTC)

'On the surface, the Holy Spirit appears to have an equivalent in non-Abrahamic Hellenistic mystery religions. These religions included a distinction between the spirit and psyche, which is also seen in the Pauline epistles. According to proponents^[who?] of the History of religions school, the Christian concept of the Holy Spirit cannot be explained from Jewish ideas alone without reference to the Hellenistic religions. But according to theologian Erik Konsmo, the views "are so dissimilar that the only legitimate connection one can make is with the Greek term πνεῦμα [pneuma, Spirit] itself".[12]'

I changed the "And..." beginning the last sentence to "But..." to clarify Konsmo's view of the influence of Hellenistic mystery religions on the Christian concept of Holy Spirit. In the context of the preceding sentence ("According to proponents..."), the use of "And" seemed to indicate that Konsmo supported the idea that the concept of Holy Spirit could not be explained from Jewish sources and the "views" being referred to as "so dissimilar" are the Jewish view and the Christian view.

On the contrary, the two views referred to by Konsmo are the Hellenistic view and the Christian view:

'The ideas of [GREEK WORD] in the Hellenistic mysteries vastly differ from those found in Paul. In fact, they are so dissimilar that the only legitimate connection one can make is with the term [GREEK WORD] itself. The identity, the nature, and the activity of the spirit/Spirit are not alike.' (p.5 of Konsmo's book, cited in the Wikipedia entry as footnote [12].)

Effectively, the final sentence in the quoted Wikipedia paragraph is contradicting the previous sentence. Yet the use of "And..." to begin the final sentence misleadingly suggests that the final sentence is endorsing the previous sentence. I think more could be done to clarify this paragraph, but I didn't want to personally undertake a more substantive edit. Nick (talk) 16:56, 2 April 2025 (UTC)

"Based on the Old Testament, the book of Acts emphasizes the power of ministry aspect of the Holy Spirit."

Pardon? FourLights (talk) FourLights (talk) 08:53, 13 July 2025 (UTC)

You are absolutely right, the book of Acts belongs to the New Testament, not the Old Testament; it's incredible that this has been written this way for so many years. --JasterOmega (talk) 14:16, 13 July 2025 (UTC)