Holy Spirit

Topics in Christianity
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Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer
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Important figures
Apostle Paul · Church Fathers
Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine
Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther
Calvin · Wesley
Arius · Marcion of Sinope
Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury
Patriarch of Constantinople

In mainstream Christianity, the Holy Spirit is one of the three divine persons of the Holy Trinity which make up the single substance of God; that is, the Spirit is considered to act in concert with and share an essential nature with God the Father and God the Son (Jesus). The Christian theology of the Holy Spirit, or pneumatology, was the last piece of Trinitarian theology to be fully explored and developed. For this reason, there is greater theological diversity among Christian understandings of the Spirit than there is among understandings of the Son (christology) and understandings of the Father. Within Trinitarian theology, the Holy Spirit is usually refered to as the "Third Person" of the Triune God - with the Father being the First Person and the Son the Second Person.

Unlike the second person of the Trinity, it has never been taught that there was a physical manifestation - or Incarnation - of the Spirit. Instead, the Spirit is usually described as a comforter or helper.