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Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity
#15
Paul Younan Wrote:
TrueVineBranch Wrote:Some Early Syriac writings do portray the Holy Spirit as being feminine. I do appreciate your reply.

Hi TrueVineBranch,

Welcome to the forum. In Aramaic, as in many languages, nouns have a grammatical gender. It is a somewhat strange concept to English speakers as this is not common in English. It is a feature of other European languages, most notably French.

In Aramaic, the word "spirit" is feminine in gender, grammatically speaking. That doesn't mean that a spirit is feminine. Of course a spirit is neither male nor female in gender.

Due to the grammar, many early (and modern) Aramaic writers played on this feature of the language for dramatic effect. Often times, you will read early Aramaic poems that refer to the Holy Spirit with feminine features (especially in adjectives and verbs). That is because the grammar of the language demands it. Verbs will also reflect this, because in Aramaic a verb must agree with the noun in gender, number and person.

Be careful not to read too much into this. The Holy Spirit is of course neither male nor female - that's a matter of X and Y chromosomes, a strictly human differentiation.

+Shamasha


Shlama akhi,

very good points. i know i've found Moses refer to the Father as a "feminine" "YOU" in Numbers 11:15 in the Hebrew, and then the Cherub spoken of in Ezekiel 28:14 also is addressed with a feminine "YOU," so it does happen from time to time in Hebrew, as well, but it doesn't mean that the Creator is a woman, or that Satan (i'm guessing that's who the Cherub became) is also a woman. there are some other interesting places. Moses i think is even referred to with a feminine pronoun once, if i remember correctly!

to all who are in the process of learning a new language, from one student to another: a new language should really come be approached with as much preconceptions and linguistic assumptions stripped away as possible, because every language has its own nuances and descriptive abilities which need to be processed and understood in light of that particular language and culture.


Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy
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Messages In This Thread
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Burning one - 01-04-2012, 04:07 AM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-03-2012, 06:42 AM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-03-2012, 07:51 AM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-03-2012, 11:44 AM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-03-2012, 01:21 PM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-03-2012, 01:53 PM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-03-2012, 04:09 PM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-03-2012, 04:16 PM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-03-2012, 05:02 PM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-04-2012, 08:21 AM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-17-2012, 09:47 AM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-19-2012, 12:38 PM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-20-2012, 07:55 AM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-20-2012, 01:32 PM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-20-2012, 06:15 PM
Re: Early Christian view of the Holy Trinity - by Arkady - 03-21-2012, 02:21 AM

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