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Article: Author and engine. (Holy Spirit)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- May 22, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In preparation for the jubilee year 2000, the Roman Catholic church has set aside 1998 as a year of prayer and reflection on the Holy Spirit. It is a theological commonplace to note that the Western church has failed in important ways to articulate or appreciate the power and person of the Holy Spirit. (Spiritus is Latin for ruah, "breath" in Hebrew: "The breath of his mouth put all things in place" - Wisdom 32:6.) Too often the Spirit has simply been taken for granted, the forgotten member of the Trinity, relegated in practical theology and worship to third place in a hierarchy of divine being.
To be sure, the concept of the Holy Spirit is inherently esoteric. In ...