著者
竹田 文彦
出版者
The Japan Society of Christian Studies
雑誌
日本の神学 (ISSN:02854848)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.47, pp.59-86, 2008-09-16 (Released:2011-08-03)
参考文献数
89

The Syriac word for ‘spirit’, ruha, which is grammatically feminine like Hebrew ruah, had a great influence on the understanding of the Holy Spirit in the early Syriac Christianity. From the early fifth century onwards, under the increasing prestige of Greek culture, some people began to disapprove of treating the Holy Spirit as feminine, and the word ruha began to be treated as masculine wherever it referred to the Holy Spirit, even by ignoring the grammatical rules of the language. However, many feminine images and metaphors survived and had continuously been used to express the character of the Holy Spirit. Especially, the tradition to understand the Holy Spirit as mother was very strong. By using many maternal images, such as hovering (like a mother bird) and womb, Syriac Christians got a better understanding of the Holy Spirit. It is important for us to be aware of, and to have a sensitivity to, this female imagery already present in the Syriac Christian tradition, for only by gaining this sensitivity, we can attain to a better appreciation of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, not only in its fatherly character but also in its motherly character.
著者
大澤 香
出版者
日本基督教学会
雑誌
日本の神学 (ISSN:02854848)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.56, pp.9-31, 2017-09-25 (Released:2019-06-05)
参考文献数
28

The “God-Fearers” in Luke have been thought of as gentile sympathizers. In the context of ancient Israel, “Fear of YHWH” was strongly connected with Israelite observance of the Law of YHWH. How did such an important concept in the piety of Israel and Jewish identity come to describe gentile believers? Investigation of the interpretation of this phrase in the Second Temple period gives us an important clue. In the Second Temple period there seems to have been a consensus that love of God was superior to fear of God. From the examples in the Second Temple period, there must have been a common understanding of “God-Fearers” as referring to gentile believers before Luke. But it appears that in Acts, Luke deliberately put “God-Fearer” and “God-Worshiper” in the story as a literary strategy, using the sense of “God-Fearers” as connoting religious piety continuing from ancient Israel, to mitigate the peripherality of gentile believers.