On Wed, 17 Oct 2001 PHSEELY@aol.com wrote:
> Gordon noted,
>
> <<Although the early church fathers apparently believed that the Flood was
> global, it appears that some of them realized that there were some
> problems associated with this view. Ambrose, for example, in considering
> Genesis 8:1 observed that there is a lot of wind on the ocean, but sea
> level is not dropping. Therefore he decided that the wind (or breath or
> spirit in the Hebrew) referred to the Holy Spirit, a view that perhaps
> noone holds today.>>
>
> I cannot see the logical connection between the understanding of ruah as the
> Holy Spirit instead of wind in Gen 8:1 and the extent of the Flood.
There is no connection. Neither I nor Ambrose nor anyone else I know of
thought there was a connection between the Holy Spirit and the extent of
the Flood. It is unfortunate that I used the word `therefore', which may
have suggested that there was.
The possible connection is between wind and the extent of the Flood. Wind
would not cause a drop in the level of a global ocean. On the other hand,
to take an extreme example in the opposite direction, wind could help to
dry up a puddle. It is because he believed that the Flood was global that
Ambrose came up with what seems to me like a bizarre interpretation of
Gen. 8:1.
Gordon Brown
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0395
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