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As one who embraces the Jesus narrative and believes that the point of that story is ultimately not so much Jesus as it is the Unnameable, the name of “God” is an issue worth reflecting upon.
In early Hebraic tradition, “God” identifies with the name Yahweh (YHWH). This is the “God” turned toward humanity and seeking intimate relationship with them. As the story unfolds we see the intimacy of this relationship develop in many ways and in many places. In time this “God” and the various aspects of “God’s” beingness and nature are no longer expressed by one name alone, but by many names. The idea seems to be that no one name could possibly contain and convey all that “God” is. And who would want such a “God” anyway?
Perhaps a multiplicity of names for “God” exist to avoid the maxim that once a being is named, the one naming such a being has captured its essence and is therefore able to exert power over it. Practically this seems to be on display with everyone from Richard Dawkins and ‘the new atheists’ to many conservative evangelicals along with a whole plethora of people in between. “God” is spoken of in such certain and conclusive terms that at times it is confusing as to who holds the power – “God” or the person speaking of “God.”
The name of “God” is so convincingly employed by so many so often that one would think this “being of beings” was something easily definable, living in a box, as it were – held captive to the brilliance of our structured syllogisms, finite thought and highly prejudicial reasoning.
Perhaps this has been no more evident than how the name of “God” has been politicized in a post 9/11 Western world – especially by a portion of Christian leaders attempting to make the case that “Allah” (the Muslim name for “God”) is not only a different name for “God” but a different “God” altogether from the one they worship. Outside of standing on faulty etymological grounds, it seems to escape many that these claims run the gambit from racist on one extreme to simply ill-informed on the other.
For hundreds of years before the Muslim prophet Muhammad arrived on the scene, Arab Christians would have commonly used the word Allah for “God.” Even Jesus, speaking in Aramaic, would have used the name “Alaha” when sometimes referring to “God.” Were Jesus to make the rounds on the conservative talk show circuit today, I doubt his ideas would fare much better than they did two-thousand years ago.
The point is, that for many – too many – the name of “God” is something that has lost its mystery, intrigue and power. And that is unfortunate. At best the name of “God” is a linguistic tool to point to something far beyond the name itself. And THAT is the place where we as humanity should be searching to find the common thread for a sustainable future.
As someone once said, “God created us in [his] image, and we were only too happy to return the favor.”
I believe if there is to be peace in this world, it will be found not at the intersection of arrogance and certainty, but of humility and mystery.
9 comments to “Unnameable for a Reason”
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Well I like the obvious implications of our “returning the favor” and creating God in our image. I think that the nature/core of “religion” The Jesus narratives would change that rather directly, the :unseen God” suddenly being “explained” (to use John’s term) in the flesh. Add to that two other factors: all the names for this coming one in the Old Testamnet, those he ascribes to himself in the Gospels (light, bread, food, etc.) and then at to it the idea that God Himself has somehow given this One the “name above all names”.
What of that?
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Thank you, Tim! This is an idea definitely worth spreading around way more than it is. I’m blogging an excerpt of this post, sharing it with others who might chance to read it.
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You know, I thought I was gonna disagree with this post, until you said: ‘The idea seems to be that no one name could possibly contain and convey all that “God” is.’
I’ve always thought that we might miss the point of “Yahweh”. I don’t think it was the naming of God at all, but the exact opposite. Moses tries to own and label God, but God says, “I am who/what I am. I don’t have a tag. I just am.”
I very much share your concern for humility, but I think we can still celebrate that God is a God who reveals himself. And I think that if we have to describe God, 1 John 4:8 gives us one of the few labels with which to reliably do so.
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There is a name………that name is simple…..
Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord speaking of governance and authority.
Jesus….of relationship.
Christ….as vocation. -
“I believe if there is to be peace in this world, it will be found not at the intersection of arrogance and certainty, but of humility and mystery.”
Yes. Thanks, Tim and everyone else.
Kevin- love your description.
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Pat — with all due respect, I think maybe you missed the point. Even the most ardent trinitarian theology recognizes God and Jesus as distinct persons, even as it affirms their coequality.
I’m sorry, but your answer smacks of a kind of “nanny-nanny-boo-boo” polemics that recapitulates the my-dad-can-beat-up-your-dad battle of tribal deities. I don’t think that’s helpful.
Think what you like about the postmortem fate of those who do not claim Jesus as Lord in this world, it is precisely in this world that we are faced with the daunting challenge of cultivating peace with those who are not likely to sign off on our metaphysical commitments.
Tim’s answer, which I think speaks to a certain wisdom, is to bring our use of a loaded signifier like “God” into broader focus. None of us knows the extent to which our God-language apprehends the reality-that-is. Whether it’s a given religion’s particular name for God or the atheist’s rejection of God, ultimately we do not know to what extent this corresponds to the “really real.”
The call for humility seems apropos.
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I heard a FABulous interview with a woman named Karen Armstrong, who wrote, “A Case for God” … it was on NPR, and WELL worth the listen:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112968197
I love her description of God … this, after years in a convent, leaving Christianity, and discovering the transcendent truth of God found in all cultures, religions, and peoples … riveting!
She would love this blog!
Shalom, Dena
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It seems that the generic term God that is universally used for deity or deities is an awareness without intimacy. Throughout the Old Testament the generic God is experienced and revealed with a new name. I would say that divine revelation and experience brings mankind into intimacy with in some degree. At the fulness of time God sent forth His son and according to His own words, John 17:6, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. NASU The Lord Jesus continues to pray and says, John 17:11-12 Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. 12 “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them … NASU The work of Christ is to manifest the Name and to keep us in the Name. This will bring about a oneness and a harmony that will be awesome when practiced. We are meant to experience God intimately and that will bring greater revelation of who He is. Those who believe must come to God and believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Tim shared that “the name of God has lost its mystery” and I agree wholeheartedly. We need revelation of who God is and we cannot humanly know God without His unveiling otherwise it is just imagination. I noticed in the word when I read Tim’s message that the brotherly love church in Revelation 3 states the one who overcomes the Lord says He will write the name of My God and the name of city of My God on him and remarkably My New Name will I write on him. Talk about mystery! WOW. There are greater experiences of the Lord ahead with greater revelation of who He is and with His infinite Character we will never exhaust who He is. Recently God revealed to a new name when he snuck up on me and surprised me with incredible blessings. His new name to me became “Jehovah Sneaky”! Let’s not lose the mystery of His name and keep pressing on to know Him. Bless you all!
I’ve heard it said that the origin of the word Yahweh came from the sound one makes when exhaling and inhaling. Try it. Part your lips just a little. While not moving your lips exhale and then inhale. Listen to the sound the air makes as it passes over your lips. That sound, the sound of breathing, of life sustaining action is the name of God. It’s the sound that comes from no willful act other than the will to live.