Holy Spirit: Encyclopedia II - Holy Spirit - Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost

Holy Spirit - Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost

Holy Ghost was the common name for the Holy Spirit in English prior to the 20th century. It is the name used in the Book of Common Prayer and the King James Version of the Bible, and is still used by those who prefer more traditional language, or whose religious vocabulary is largely derived from the King James Version — including many Anglicans, conservative Pentecostal groups, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and various others.

In 1901 the American Standard Version of the Bible translated the name as Holy Spirit, as had the English Revised Version of 1881-1885 upon which it was based. Almost all modern English translations have followed suit, as the word ghost has lost its former meaning of the spirit or soul that is inside man, and has come to be identified almost exclusively with the concept of disembodied spirits, usually of the dead, which may "haunt" the living — an idea far from that intended by the King James translators. Some languages still use a word that overlaps both English words, such as the German Geist.

In the United Kingdom, Religious Education teachers are told to avoid using "Holy Ghost" as it "suggests a trivial and spooky element to the third part in the Trinity" [2].

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki