how to find out the topic

Paul

for example, I want to find out the topic about spirit and soul in Genesis. Thanks.

Graham Criddle

Hi Paul

I'm afraid I don't understand what you are trying to do

Please clarify further

Graham

Olli-Pekka Ylisuutari

Paul said:

for example, I want to find out the topic about spirit and soul in Genesis. Thanks.

Hi, Paul!

If I understand you correctly, you could proceed using the “Bible Word Study” -tool in Logos:

When trying to search for the topic of “spirit” or “soul” in Genesis, two Hebrew words come into my mind. First the word נֶ֫פֶשׁ, transliterated nephesh (used e.g. as “soul”) then the word רוּחַ, transliterated ruach (used e.g. as “spirit”).

(If you don't know how to use original languages, just use your english bible and right click the word in the verse where you have either the word "soul" or "spirit").

Here’s what BWS has to say about the number of the word נֶ֫פֶשׁ, nephesh, used in Genesis:

When you click the meaning “soul, soul’s, souls” in the above circle diagram, as I have done below, you get the passages that use that meaning). The first two of them are in Genesis:

When you scroll a little bit down further in the BWS icon, you also find out that the word נֶ֫פֶשׁ is used also in relation to animals in the Clause Participants Drop-Down menu:

This is an interesting observation, indeed. It shows that the word נֶ֫פֶשׁ, nephesh, has a versatile meaning. Can we say that animals have souls or is it rather that the word has multiple meanings? To me it tells that the meaning of the word must be broader than the strict meaning “soul” coming from later Greek Philosophy. The hebrew thinking is different from the greeks.

A totally different kind of approach (instead of BWS) would be a general search (limited perhaps to a collection of Genesis commentaries made previously, before you conduct the search) in the lines of the following search string or search command:

([field heading,largetext] Soul)

Depending on your library this brings forth different kind of search results

In my library it brings out this relevant excursus on the meaning of soul in Genesis in Kenneth A. Mathews' NAC -commentary or this in Bruce Waltke’s Genesis Commentary (but that depends on what you have in your library).

You can do the same search with the word “Spirit”:

([field heading,largetext] Spirit) etc.

Happy hunting!