Rûaḥ and Pneuma in Judeo-Christianity
摘要
The idea and reality of breath within the traditions of Judeo-Christianity is explored here by way of the concepts of rûaḥ and pneuma. More specifically, the chapter attends to specific scriptural texts of the tradition—text of Psalm 104:27–30 and the Gospel of John 20:22—in order to explain these concepts while giving particular attention to materiality. That is, particular attention is given to the link between breath and spirit, between nature and the supernatural. From this beginning, the specifically modern situation is addressed by way of the thought of Charles Taylor; by way of his account of disenchantment and his hopeful exploration of possible cosmic (re)connection. In a final section of the chapter, the traditions of sacramental theology are engaged with a view to embedding the previous reflections within a particular expression of the broad Judeo-Christian tradition. The purpose is to consider a renewed approach to breath and breathing that is resistant to disenchantment and which is an expression of what Taylor calls the phenomenology of reenchantment.