Names of God

This article is about names for the single God of monotheistic religions. For theonyms generally, see List of deities.
A diagram of the names of God in Athanasius Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652–1654). The style and form are typical of the mystical tradition, as early theologians began to fuse emerging pre-Enlightenment concepts of classification and organization with religion and alchemy, to shape an artful and perhaps more conceptual view of God.
The word 'Allah' in thuluth calligraphy.
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There are various names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word god (and its equivalent in other languages) is used by multiple religions as a noun to refer to different deities, or specifically to the Supreme Being, as denoted in English by the capitalized and uncapitalized terms God and god.[1] Ancient cognate equivalents for the biblical Hebrew Elohim, one of the most common names of God in the Bible,[2] include proto-Semitic El, biblical Aramaic Elah, and Arabic ilah.[2] The personal or proper name for God in many of these languages may either be distinguished from such attributes, or homonymic. For example, in Judaism the tetragrammaton is sometimes related to the ancient Hebrew ehyeh ("I will be").[2] It is connected to the passage in Exodus 3:14 in which God gives his name as אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh), where the verb may be translated most basically as "I am that I am", "I shall be what I shall be", or "I shall be what I am". In the passage, YHWH,[2] the personal name of God, is revealed directly to Moses.

Correlation between various theories and interpretation of the name of "the one God", used to signify a monotheistic or ultimate Supreme Being from which all other divine attributes derive, has been a subject of ecumenical discourse between Eastern and Western scholars for over two centuries.[3] In Christian theology the word is considered a personal and a proper name of God.[4] On the other hand, the names of God in a different tradition are sometimes referred to by symbols.[5] The question whether divine names used by different religions are equivalent has been raised and analyzed.[6]

Exchange of names held sacred between different religious traditions is typically limited. Other elements of religious practice may be shared, especially when communities of different faiths are living in close proximity (for example, the use of Khuda or Prabhu within the Indian Christian community) but usage of the names themselves mostly remains within the domain of a particular religion, or even may help define one's religious belief according to practice, as in the case of the recitation of names of God (such as the japa).[7] Guru Gobind Singh's Jaap Sahib, which contains 950 names of God is one example of this.[8] The Divine Names, the classic treatise by Pseudo-Dionysius, defines the scope of traditional understandings in Western traditions such as Hellenic, Christian, Jewish and Islamic theology on the nature and significance of the names of God.[9] Further historical lists such as The 72 Names of the Lord show parallels in the history and interpretation of the name of God amongst Kabbalah, Christianity, and Hebrew scholarship in various parts of the Mediterranean world.[10]

The attitude as to the transmission of the name in many cultures was surrounded by secrecy. In Judaism, the pronunciation of the name of God has always been guarded with great care. It is believed that, in ancient times, the sages communicated the pronunciation only once every seven years;[11] this system was challenged by more recent movements. The nature of a holy name can be described as either personal or attributive. In many cultures it is often difficult to distinguish between the personal and the attributive names of God, the two divisions necessarily shading into each other.[12]

  1. ^ Velde, Rudi van de (2006). Aquinas on God: the 'divine science' of the Summa theologiae. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate. pp. 45–46. ISBN 0-7546-0755-0.
  2. ^ a b c d Eisenstein, Judah D.; McLaughlin, John F. (1906). "Names of God". Jewish Encyclopedia. Kopelman Foundation. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  3. ^ Jordan, Mark D. (1983), The Names of God and the Being of Names, in The Existence and Nature of God, edited by Alfred J. Freddoso, pp. 161–190. University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 0-268-00911-2
  4. ^ (PDF) Sacraments of the Incarnate Word: The Christological Form of the Summa theologiae C Wells, Etd.nd.edu
  5. ^ Aiyadurai Jesudasen Appasamy, G. S. S. Sreenivasa Rao, Inter-faith dialogue and world community. Christian Literature Society for India (1991) "All these names of God are, of course, symbols. ... All names of the one God or the Absolute are symbols." p. 9
  6. ^ Peter C. Phan (2004). Being religious interreligiously: Asian perspectives on interfaith dialogue p. 102.
  7. ^ Jerald D. Gort On sharing religious experience: possibilities of interfaith mutuality p.146 Encounter of Religions Research Group Rodopi, 1992 ISBN 0-8028-0505-1
  8. ^ Singh, Prithi Pal (2006). The History of Sikh Gurus. Lotus Press. p. 176. ISBN 9788183820752.
  9. ^ Paul Rorem, Pseudo-Dionysius: a commentary on the texts and an introduction to their influence. Oxford University Press, 1993, p.163 ISBN 0-19-507664-8
  10. ^ Valentina Izmirlieva, All the names of the Lord: lists, mysticism, and magic, University of Chicago Press, 2008 ISBN 0-226-38870-0
  11. ^ James Orr The International Standard Bible encyclopaedia Edition: —Item notes: v. 1—1959 1915 p. 1267
  12. ^ John S. Mbiti. Concepts of God in Africa. p. 217, 1970