The Holy Spirit as feminine: Early Christian testimonies and their interpretation

Abstract

The earliest Christians – all of whom were Jews – spoke of the Holy Spirit as a feminine figure. The present article discusses the main proof texts, ranging from the ‘Gospel according to the Hebrews’ to a number of testimonies from the second century. The ancient tradition was, in particular, kept alive in East and West Syria, up to and including the fourth century Makarios and/or Symeon, who even influenced ‘modern’ Protestants such as John Wesley and the Moravian leader Count von Zinzendorf. It is concluded that, in the image of the Holy Spirit as woman and mother, one may attain a better appreciation of the fullness of the Divine.

In Search of Decolonial Eschatology

“…This understanding shows that the Holy Spirit's feminine qualities give the fullness of being in the divine. 33 Attributing feminine or maternal characteristics to the Holy Spirit does not mean the Holy Spirit is female but helps counterbalance masculine conception of God and helps us to understand the fullness of God within Godself. 34 This also means the depiction of the Holy Spirit coming on Jesus is a symbolic demonstration of Jesus' inner balance of feminine and masculine qualities which he also radically transcends.…”

Emotions: The Personality of the Spirit in the Old Testament

“…It implies the experience of emotions, associates with the feeling of sadness and distress, challenges the vital dimensions. According to the Hebrew bible, pronounces the Spirit as a grammatically feminine term, the consequences are, the Spirit's works appear feminine as a comforter, life, and birth giver (Pinnock, 1997) (Van Oort, 2016). Here the role of Spirit in which experience suffer, grieve and pain of giving birth is portrayed in her grieving in Isaiah 63:10, offers a sense of feminine sadness, and emotions contain feminine nature.…”

Freud’s Oedipus Complex in the #MeToo Era: A Discussion of the Validity of Psychoanalysis in Light of Contemporary Research

“…The practice of symbolically representing spirit qualities as masculine and soul qualities as feminine that has been mentioned in this paper can be identified in several ancient religious contexts [121][122][123][124], however, this is yet to be extensively researched in relation to Ancient Greek mystery schools and the communication of concepts within their myths. Further exploratory research directed at understanding the Ancient Greek's use of symbolism may shed light on more errors in psychoanalytic interpretations of ancient artworks, literature, myths, and archetypes.…”