Rûaḥ in the Hebrew Bible: A Survey of Past Scholarship.

This article focuses on the term rûaḥ (plural: rûḥôt) in the Hebrew Bible, commonly translated as "wind," "breath," or "spirit," and surveys five key scholarly themes: diachronic approaches to its meaning, distinctions between life-giving and empowering modes, differentiation from the term nepeš, its role in ecstatic experiences, and its function in articulating human subjectivity and moral agency. Scholarship reveals complexities in translating and interpreting rûaḥ, including debates over its theological significance, its relationship to nepeš as alternative models of personhood, and evidence for spirit-inspired ecstasy in prophetic texts. Recent research emphasizes cognitive anthropological models that link rûaḥ-language to constructions of selfhood and agency, suggesting multiple overlapping cultural understandings rather than a singular doctrine. The article concludes by identifying directions for future study, including gender, political subjectivity, and cross-cultural comparisons within biblical scholarship.