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The Spirit and the Dove

Probably no detail of the account of Jesus' baptism has evoked so diverse a range of suggestions as has the dove. That the critics did not invent the problem is shown by the ancient texts themselves. (a) Mark's report is ambiguous: (Jesus) είδεν…τό πνε⋯μα ώσ περιστεράν καταβαῖνον ε;ἰσ αὐτόν, for ‘as a dove’ could modify either the noun that precedes it or the participle that follows. (b) Matthew has not completely removed the ambiguity: ειδεν πνε⋯μα Φεο⋯ καταβαῑνον ὡσε⋯ περισερ⋯ν έρχòμενον έπʾ αὐτν (c) But Luke is more explicit: καταβ⋯ναι τò πνε⋯μα τò ἃγιον σωματικῷ εἲδει ὡσ περιστερ⋯ν ⋯π’ αὐτòν. ((d) According to the Fourth Gospel, the Baptist reports that he saw the Spirit καταβαῑνον ὡσ περιστερ⋯ν ⋯ξ οὐρανο⋯ κα⋯ ἔμεινεν ⋯π’ αὐτν and that previously he had been alerted to expect such a phenomenon (though the dove is not mentioned in the report of what God had previously said). (e) The Ebionite Gospel says Jesus saw τò πνε⋯μα τò ἂγιον ⋯ν εἴδι περιδτρ⋯σ κατελθοὑσησ κασ εἰσ αὐτòν, thereby answering the question of what happened to it. (f) However, the Gospel according to the Hebrews (Nazarene Gospel) has no dove at all but instead speaks of ‘the whole fount of the Holy Spirit’: descendit fons omnis Spiritus Sancti et requievit super eum, etc. These ancient variations, and the diverse textual readings, reveal that there is no single tradition of the dove, and that its meaning was problematic from the start. Nor has modern scholarship, equipped with tools and collected data, been persuasive in its understandings. Nevertheless, the history of interpretation can close doors to unfruitful hypotheses and move the discussion of Jesus' baptism forward.