聖靈/聖神之別

>although you usually hear your
>Catholic sisters/brothers say 'ghost'
>while the protestants are more used to
>saying 'spirit',

這種ghost/spirit之別,也有一個中文版本. 大凡指ghost/spirit之處, 基督新教多用`靈'字, 基督公教(天主教)的兄弟姊妹則多用`神'字, 於是乎有靈恩/神恩, 心靈/心神, 靈修/神修, 聖靈/聖神等用詞之別.

不過, 我私疑(思疑?)神與ghost, 靈與spirit並非為求一一對應而各譯一字. 不過陰差陽錯, 剛巧而已.
(聖公會公禱書中文版用聖靈, 英文版一直是Holy Ghost滿紙的.)

天主教用聖神一詞, 起源極早, 竊忖與天主一詞一樣, 出於利瑪竇的手筆. 其實聖神一詞並非為天主教徒專美, 文言文版的和合本就是用聖神來稱聖靈的, 聖公會等大宗派來華初年也聖神聖靈雜用 (想當年大宗派堅持用上帝而不用神一詞來稱GOD, 固然是神學理由一大堆, 但我私疑背後還有這一個習慣上的助因), 後來國語和合本日漸流行, 大勢所趨, 大家順應其用法, 而漸漸統一用聖靈了.

今天偶然還有幾個講究執著的傢伙, 醉心於聖神一詞. 你到天道書樓去, 很可能會看見一本厚厚的聖神論, 作者那位台灣老長會的牧師先生, 在序言中不厭其煩地告訴你為甚麼非用聖神一詞不足以傳其神.

順帶一提, 現代中文譯本其實有天主教和基督新教兩個版本, 天主教版跟新教版本幾乎完全相同, 只有兩個詞語實在無法遷就, 其中一個就是聖神了. 另一個呢? 不用畫公仔畫出腸啦.

--

The question is: which edition of the Bible are you reading?
If you read the NIV (which I guess you most probably do), you are bound to read Holy Spirit only. But if you find a more 'ecumenical' translation (such as NRSV, Jerusalem Bible, etc.) you might encounter the Holy Ghost. Or if you go for the more classical KJV, I am pretty sure that you would see the ghost everywhere. [btw, by 'ecumenical translation' I mean one that is used by different strands of Christianity, whereas the NIV is more often used by US American evangelical protestants.]

The Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost both refer to the same person in the Christian deity, the one other than the 'father' and the 'son'. The two terms are essentially interchangeable in the English language; although you usually hear your Catholic sisters/brothers say 'ghost' while the protestants are more used to saying 'spirit', that is, however, not the absolute case. But conservative Chinese Christians would tend to avoid using 'ghost' because the word bears a specific & somewhat negative connotation in the Chinese language and they [we] think that it is not decent (or even blasphemous) to call their deity a 'ghost'.

Whether 'spirit' or 'ghost', they boil down to the same word in the Greek New Testamment --- 'pneuma'. But beyond this I can no longer claim any knowledge on Biblical study. For this issue of 'spirit/ghost', you better ask Prof Wong Kun Chun of CUHK / Shatin Church, who (to the best of my knowledge) is one of the foremost practising New Testament scholars among the global Chinese church.

飲者