Besides God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the "triune God". He hovered over the primeval flood before creation, lowered himself on Jesus at his baptism and let the apostles preach in foreign languages in the miracle of Pentecost. The Spirit appears as a murmuring wind and roaring storm, as fire and dove, in the church and in nature. He is the great transforming force, inspiring love, he fuels visions, inspires artists and preachers, undermines traditions and authorities and, as a world spirit, drives history forward. Jörg Lauster's biography of the Holy Spirit goes far beyond the history of theology, because political utopias, philosophical ideas of freedom, the cult of artistic genius or the modern view of nature show how the Spirit finds expression even in a secularised world. The secret centre of this first biography of the Holy Spirit is the philosophy of the Renaissance, which like a hinge connects medieval and modern, divine and human spirit.