Novus Spiritus

TheAnachronism · 11th December 2008, 08:44 PM

I was just wondering if Sylvia Browne has ever stated where she got the "Novus Spiritus" for the name of her church. Has she ever claimed that it came from a divine source (ie "My spirit guide, Frances, told me to name it that!") or anything of the like?

In Latin, doesn't the adjective come after the noun in modifies? If anyone happens to know Latin, is the declension on "novus" even correct?

ExMinister · 12th December 2008, 10:47 AM

The tenets of the church were supposedly provided by Francine, but I've never heard the name attributed to her. I did some research and checked through the catechism and several of her books and came up empty as far as how the name was chosen, except that I get the impression she thought if it herself. If I find anything more, I'll post it here.

ETA: Here is a quote from her book Father God: "My group is a Gnostic Christian one, but in order to have it sanctioned by the federal and state governments as a religion and a nonprofit organization, I had to come up with a name to operate...thus, Novus Spiritus, or 'New Spirit."

TheAnachronism · 15th December 2008, 01:08 AM

Thanks, ExMinister.

I was under the impression that in Latin it would actually be "Spiritus Novus." However, since Sylvia apparently doesn't claim to have any "psychic" influence in choosing the name, proving it incorrect doesn't do much to counter the claims of her psychic abilities per se.

cos · 15th December 2008, 04:23 AM

Originally Posted by TheAnachronism

In Latin, doesn't the adjective come after the noun in modifies? If anyone happens to know Latin, is the declension on "novus" even correct?

In Latin, adjectives tend to appear just after the noun they modify, but their position can be shifted for emphasis or stylistic reasons. Because of the declension system, word order is nowhere near as significant as in, say, English.

Here "novus" is nominative singular masculine, as is "spiritus" (it's a 4th declension noun, so it could be one of a number of cases, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt). So it's grammatically correct, at least.

11th December 2008, 08:44 PM	#1
TheAnachronism Critical Thinker Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: USA Posts: 441	Novus Spiritus I was just wondering if Sylvia Browne has ever stated where she got the "Novus Spiritus" for the name of her church. Has she ever claimed that it came from a divine source (ie "My spirit guide, Frances, told me to name it that!") or anything of the like? In Latin, doesn't the adjective come after the noun in modifies? If anyone happens to know Latin, is the declension on "novus" even correct?
	__________________ "Even a long human life adds up to only about 650,000 hours. And when that modest milestone flashes past, or at some other point thereabouts, for reasons unknown your atoms will shut you down, silently disassemble, and go off to be other things. And that's it for you....Still, you may rejoice that it happens at all." Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything

12th December 2008, 10:47 AM	#2
ExMinister RSL Acolyte Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 2,749	The tenets of the church were supposedly provided by Francine, but I've never heard the name attributed to her. I did some research and checked through the catechism and several of her books and came up empty as far as how the name was chosen, except that I get the impression she thought if it herself. If I find anything more, I'll post it here. ETA: Here is a quote from her book Father God: "My group is a Gnostic Christian one, but in order to have it sanctioned by the federal and state governments as a religion and a nonprofit organization, I had to come up with a name to operate...thus, Novus Spiritus, or 'New Spirit."
ExMinister RSL Acolyte Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 2,749	__________________ www.stopsylvia.com Last edited by ExMinister; 12th December 2008 at 11:19 AM.

15th December 2008, 01:08 AM	#3
TheAnachronism Critical Thinker Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: USA Posts: 441	Thanks, ExMinister. I was under the impression that in Latin it would actually be "Spiritus Novus." However, since Sylvia apparently doesn't claim to have any "psychic" influence in choosing the name, proving it incorrect doesn't do much to counter the claims of her psychic abilities per se.
	__________________ "Even a long human life adds up to only about 650,000 hours. And when that modest milestone flashes past, or at some other point thereabouts, for reasons unknown your atoms will shut you down, silently disassemble, and go off to be other things. And that's it for you....Still, you may rejoice that it happens at all." Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything

15th December 2008, 04:23 AM	#4
cos Student Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 48	Did someone say Latin? Originally Posted by TheAnachronism In Latin, doesn't the adjective come after the noun in modifies? If anyone happens to know Latin, is the declension on "novus" even correct? In Latin, adjectives tend to appear just after the noun they modify, but their position can be shifted for emphasis or stylistic reasons. Because of the declension system, word order is nowhere near as significant as in, say, English. Here "novus" is nominative singular masculine, as is "spiritus" (it's a 4th declension noun, so it could be one of a number of cases, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt). So it's grammatically correct, at least.
cos Student Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 48