Names of God
Encyclopedia
Names of God, or Holy Names, describe a form of addressing God
present in liturgy
or prayer
of various world religions. Prayer involving the Holy Name or the Name of God has become established as common spiritual practice in both Western and Eastern spiritual practices. A number of traditions have lists of many names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of the Supreme Being. According to Islam, the earliest mention of the name of God is found in the Koran sura 2, The Cow: "When your Lord said to the angels: 'I am placing on the earth one that shall rule as My deputy,' they replied: 'Will You put there one that will do evil and shed blood, when we have for so long sung Your praises and sanctified Your Name?" Mohammad encouraged his followers to call upon God by any of His 99 Names. Judaism
refers to 72 Divine Names
, and the Hindu
scripture Mahabharata
contains a thousand names of Vishnu
.
The English word "God" is used by multiple religions as a noun
or name
to refer to different deities.
Ancient cognate
equivalents for the word "God" include proto-Semitic El (deity), Hebrew Elohim
"God or/of gods", Arabic 'ilah "(an or the) god", and Biblical Aramaic
Elaha "God". The personal or proper name
for God in many of these languages may either be distinguished from such attributes
, or homonym
ic. For example, in Judaism
the Holy Name
is sometimes related to the ancient Hebrew ehyeh, "I AM
". In Hinduism
the term Brahman
or Parabrahman is often used, while in other cases the proper name for a deity is given special significance as a true name of God; or incorporated from earlier beliefs, as in the case of the Native American
appellation Gitche Manitou
.
Correlation between various theories and interpretation of the Name of 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. In Christian
theology the word must be a personal and a proper name of God; hence it cannot be dismissed as mere metaphor. On the other hand, the Names of God in a different tradition are sometimes referred as symbols. The question whether divine names used by different religions are equivalent has been raised and analyzed. See also Taboos below.
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 Om
and Gayatri
within the Indian Christian
community) but usage of the names themselves mostly remain within the domain of a particular religion, or even may help define ones' religious belief according to practice, as in the case of the recitation of names of God (such as the japa
). 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. 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.
One definition of the Name of God was given by Elisha Mulford as 'that name which passes into the common forms of thought'. The author states that in its derivation it may have an ethical significance. Other writers suggest that the "name of God represents the nature of God". The attitude as to the transmission of the Name in many cultures was surrounded by secrecy. The pronunciation of the Name of God, in Judaism
, has always been guarded
with great care. It is believed that in ancient times the sages communicated the pronunciation only once every seven years; this system was challenged by more recent movements.
The nature of a holy name can be described as either personal or the 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.
, there are a number of names of God which are generally in Sanskrit
, each supported by a different tradition within the religion. Brahma, Indra
, Bhagavan, Ishvara, and Paramatma are among the most commonly used terms
for God in the scriptures of Hinduism.
, or hymns of praise, a type of devotional scripture. There are Sahasranama for Ganesha
, Lalita
, Rama
, Shiva
and Vishnu
. There are also many shorter stotras which have only 108 names.
God according to Guru Nanak is beyond full comprehension by human
s; has endless number of virtues; takes on innumerable forms; and can be called by an infinite number of names thus "Your Names are so many, and Your Forms are endless. No one can tell how many Glorious Virtues You have."
, the name of God was used during the lifetime of Adam and Eve
, but by the time Moses
was born, the scriptures imply that none of mankind still knew the Name. In the Book of Exodus, God commands Moses to tell the people that 'I AM' sent him, and this is revered as one of the most important names of God according to Mosaic tradition.
According to Islam
, the earliest mention of the name of God is found in the Koran sura
2, The Cow: "When your Lord said to the angels: 'I am placing on the earth one that shall rule as My deputy,' they replied: 'Will You put there one that will do evil and shed blood, when we have for so long sung Your praises and sanctified Your Name?"
In Exodus 6:3, when Moses first spoke with God, God said, 'I used to appear to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai
, but I did not make myself known to them by My Name YHWH
.' When Moses heard the name of God he realized that since he had a speech impediment as a result of what he called "uncircumcised lips" (Ex 6:12), he was unable to pronounce it accurately. He was able to say 'Allah' and that was the name conveyed to Pharaoh and the Egyptians and the name Allah
was referenced from that point in time.
The Torah
further describes the role of Aaron
who acted as Moses' mouthpiece and conveyed the Name of God distinctly to the Israelites (transcribed as 'YHWH' in Biblical Hebrew), and conveyed the Name of God distinctly as 'YHWH' to the Israelites. The pronunciation of YHWH is described in Psalms 8.2 by the prophet who wrote, 'Thou hast made babes, infants at the breast sound aloud Thy praise.' Several thousands of years later commentaries additionally suggested that the true pronunciation of this name is composed entirely of vowel
s, such as the Greek Ιαουε, as they allow the creation of language, thus conveying the absolute infinite potential of God's character. However, this is put into question by the fact that vowels were only distinguished in the time-period by their very absence due to the lack of explicit vowels in the Hebrew script. The resulting substitute made from semivowels and glottals
, known as the tetragrammaton
, is considered the proper name
of God in Judaism
, and is not ordinarily permitted to pronounce it aloud, even in prayer. The prohibition on misuse (not use) of this name is the primary subject of the command not to take the name of the Lord in vain. See also Taboos below.
the Jewish
name of God is considered sacred and, out of deep respect for the name, Jews do not say the name of God and do not erase it if it is written. (See Exodus 20:7) The tetragrammaton
(Hebrew:, YHVH) is the name for the group of four Hebrew letters which represent the name of God. The Tetragrammaton occurs 6,828 times in the Hebrew text in the Biblia Hebraica and the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
. Neither vowels nor vowel points were used in ancient Hebrew writings.
Some claim the pronunciation of YHWH has been lost, while other authorities say it has not and that it is pronounced Yahweh
. References, such as The New Encyclopædia Britannica
, validate the above by offering additional specifics:
Clement of Alexandria transliterated the tetragrammaton as Ιαου. The above claims were founded upon the understanding that Clement of Alexandria had transliterated YHWH as Ιαουε in Greek, which is pronounced "Yahweh" in English. However, the final -e in the latter form has been shown as having been a later addition. For a more in-depth discussion of this, see the article Yahweh
.
The original statement commonly translated "I AM" is Ehyeh (Hebrew: אהיה), from Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh, "I Am that I Am
(or will be, ongoing)" and is commonly given as a sacred name for God. Rabbinical interpreters and some scholars have asserted that Yahweh
is an archaic third person
form of hayah "to be", which is rendered Ehyeh when spoken by God in the first person
; critics of this theory note that the proper triconsonantal root would seem to be h-w-h.
Instead of pronouncing YHWH during prayer
, Jews say Adonai ("Lord"). Halakha
requires that secondary rules be placed around the primary law, to reduce the chance that the main law will be broken. As such, it is common Jewish practice to restrict the use of the word Adonai to prayer
only. In conversation, many Jewish people, even when not speaking Hebrew, will call God "Hashem", השם, which is Hebrew for "the Name" (this appears in Leviticus
24:11).
A common title of God in the Hebrew Bible
is Elohim
(Hebrew: אלהים); as opposed to other titles of God in Judaism, this name also describes gods of other religions, angels, or even humans of great importance (John 10:34-36). The root Eloah אלה is a feminine noun, meaning goddess, also used in poetry and late prose (e.g. the Book of Job
) and ending with the masculine plural suffix "-im" ים creating a word that indicates a plurality of both masculine and feminine essences yet in a singular identity "G-d".
The Hebrew name of God - El: The word El comes from a root word meaning - might, strength, power. Sometimes referring to God and sometimes the mighty when used to refer to the true God of Israel, El is almost always qualified by additional words that further define the meaning that distinguish Him from false gods.
Most observant Jews forbid discarding holy objects, including any document with a name of God written on it. Once written, the name must be preserved indefinitely. This leads to several noteworthy practices:
, "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," whom the Jews worshipped as the one true God
.
The New Testament teaches that there is only one God who is pure spirit; the creator of the world, holy and good, all-powerful, and worthy of humanity's worship and love. English translations of the New Testament
render ho theos (Greek: Ο Θεός) as God and ho kurios (Greek: Ο Κύριος) as "the Lord
".
Following the Christian
New Testament
, God is referred to in slightly abbreviated form as the 'Alpha and Omega
', the beginning and the end
, literally and figuratively.
Another title of God is ho on (Greek: Ο Ων), often depicted in Orthodox iconography, literally meaning he who is or he who exists but usually translated as the living God or "I Am that I Am
".
Regarding the Old Testament
, the Israelite theonyms Elohim
and Yahweh
are mostly rendered as "God" and "the Lord" respectively, although in the Protestant tradition, the personal names Yahweh
and Jehovah
, based on the tetragrammaton
, are also used.
Jehovah appears in Tyndale's Bible, the King James Version, and other translations from that time period and later. Many translations of the Bible translate the tetragrammaton as , following the Jewish practice of substituting the spoken Hebrew word 'Adonai' (translated as 'Lord') for YHWH when read aloud.
Many avoid using either Yahweh or Jehovah altogether on the basis that the actual pronunciation of the 'tetragrammaton has been lost in antiquity. They use God or The Lord instead.
Jesus
(Iesus, Yeshua
, Joshua (Yahshua), or Yehoshûa
) (Arabic: يسوع) is a Hebraic personal name meaning "Yahweh saves/helps/is salvation". Christ means "the anointed" in Greek
(Greek text: Χριστός). Khristos is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah
(Arabic: المسيح); while in English the old Anglo-Saxon Messiah-rendering hæland 'healer' was practically annihilated by the Latin Christ, some cognates such as heiland in Dutch and Afrikaans survive.
In Messianic Judaism
, generally regarded as a form of Christianity, YHWH (pre-incarnate) and Yeshua (incarnate) are one and the same, the second Person, with the Father and Ruach haQodesh (the Holy Spirit) being the first and third Persons, respectively, of ha'Elohiym (the Godhead). YHWH is expressed as "haShem," which means 'the Name.'
Some Quakers
often refer to God as The Light
. Another term used is 'King of Kings
' or 'Lord of Lords' and Lord of the Hosts. Other names used by Christians include Ancient of Days
, Father
/Abba, 'Most High' and the Hebrew
names Elohim
, El-Shaddai, and Adonai. The name, "Abba/Father" is the most common
term used for the creator within Christianity, because it was the name Jesus Christ (Yeshua Messiah) himself used to refer to God.
Jehovah's Witnesses
consistently use the name Jehovah
for God the Father as this is the personal name that God has revealed to humans through his written word the Holy Bible. Psalm 83:18 (Exodus 6:3, Isaiah 12:2 & 26:4) King James Version.
In Mormonism Father God's name is Elohim and Jesus name in his preincarnate state was Jehovah.
In the movement Imiaslavie
("Name glorification") opposed by the Russian Orthodox Church, the name of God is God Himself and can be used to evoke miracles.
Shangdi
上帝 (pinyin
shàng dì, literally 'King Above') is also used to refer to the Christian God in the Standard Chinese
Union Version of the Bible
. Korean Catholics and Korean Anglicans use a cognate of this name (sangje, which has largely fallen out of regular use in favor of the term cheon-ju/Tian Zhu listed below; this usage was applicable only not using the vernacular haneunim, which was the traditional Korean name for the mythological God of Heaven, a primary, but not the only, Korean mythological deity; liberal-minded Korean Protestants also use haneunim, but not sangje, and conservative Korean Protestants do not use sangje or haneunim at all but instead use hananim, which implied the oneness of the Almighty distinct from the mythological implications they see in the term haneunim). Many Vietnamese Christians also use cognates of this name (expected to have a distribution in usage similar to Korean Christians, with Anglicans and Catholics using sangje in ritual/ceremonial contexts and Protestants not using it at all), to refer to the Biblical God.
Shen
神 (lit. God, spirit, or deity) was adopted by Protestant missionaries in China to refer to the Christian God. In this context it is usually rendered with a space, " 神", to demonstrate reverence.
Zhu
, Tian Zhu 主,天主 (lit. Lord or Lord in Heaven) is translated from the English word, "Lord", which is a formal title of the Christian God in Mainland China's Christian churches. Korean Catholics also use the Korean cognate of this term, cheon-ju, as the primary reference to God in both ritual/ceremonial and vernacular (but mostly ritual/ceremonial) contexts.
is the most frequently used name of God in Islam
. It is an Arabic word meaning "The God". The word Allah is a cognate
of the Hebrew
word Eloah
.
A well established Islamic tradition enumerates 99 names of God, each representing certain attributes or descriptions of God, in which God is seen as being the source and maximum extent of each name's meaning. The names Ar-Rahman
and Ar-Rahim are the most frequently mentioned in the Qur'an, both meaning the "Most Merciful", but with different emphasis of meaning, either of which are also often translated as the "Most Compassionate" or the "Most Beneficent".
Besides these Arabic names, Muslims of non-Arab origins may also sometimes use other names in their own languages to God, such as Khoda in Persian language
or the Ottoman
anachronism Tanrı (originally the pre-Islamic Tengrianist
Turks' celestial chief god, corresponding to the Ancient Turkic god Tengri
). The use of the word "God" in English is also seen as acceptable to Muslims.
The term is used throughout the Qur'an in passages detailing the existence of God and of the beliefs of non-Muslims in other divinities. Notably, the first statement of the shahadah is "there is no ʾilāh but al-Lāh", "there is no god but Allah" (The Almighty God), which cancels out the possibility of other "gods" as it uses "the" referring to "One".
Others Include:
scriptures often refer to God by various titles and attributes, such as Almighty, All-Powerful, All-Wise, Incomparable, Gracious, Helper, All-Glorious, and Omniscient. Baha'is believe the greatest of all the names of God is "All-Glorious" or Bahá in Arabic. Bahá is the root word of the following names and phrases: the greeting Alláh-u-Abhá (God is the All-Glorious), the invocation Yá Bahá'u'l-Abhá (O Thou Glory of the Most Glorious), Bahá'u'lláh (The Glory of God), and Bahá'i (Follower of the All-Glorious). These are expressed in Arabic regardless of the language in use (see Bahá'í symbols
). Apart from these names, God is addressed in the local language, for example Ishwar in Hindi, Dieux in French and Dios in Spanish. Bahá'ís believe Bahá'u'lláh
, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, is the "complete incarnation of the names and attributes of God".
, the accurate name of the one God is Shiva or Shiva Baba. Shiva means benefactor and Baba means father, normally just called "Baba" for short. Shiva does not have the same meaning in Hinduism
.
is used to refer to a Great Spirit
or supreme being
. The term was similarly adopted by Anishnaabe Christian
groups such as the Ojibwe to refer to the monotheistic God of Abrahamic tradition by extension, often by missionary
syncretism
. However, the term has analogues dating back before European contact. While Manitou
"spirit or spirits" has shamanistic
connotations of a collection of nature spirits in general, similar to that of Eastern religions such as Shinto
, however Gitche Manitou is more specifically associated with the personalized universal spirit or creator. In Sioux
lore this spirit is known as Wakan Tanka
.
Happy Science, God is known as "El Cantare".
In Tenrikyo
, God is referred to as Tenri-O-no-Mikoto
, Tsukihi or Oya.
"Lord Wisdom" is the name of the supreme benevolent god in Zoroastrianism
.
The 101 Names of God
( Sad u yak nam-i khoda) is a list of names of Ahura Mazda. The list is preserved in Persian
and Gujarati
. Parsi
tradition expanded this to a list of "1001 names of God".
s related to names of their God. In some cases, the name may never be spoken, only spoken by inner-circle initiates, or only spoken at prescribed moments during certain ritual
s. In other cases, the name may be never freely spoken, but when written, more limited taboos apply. To avoid saying names of God, they are often modified, such as by clipping
and substitution of phonetically similar words.
The earliest mention of the name of God is found in the Koran sura 2, The Cow;`When your Lord said to the angels: 'I am placing on the earth one that shall rule as My depuy,' they replied: 'Will You put there one that will do evil and shed blood, when we have for so long sung Your praises and sanctified Your Name?' It is only fairly recently that it's been determined that life on earth probably exceeds 3.4 billion years and certainly there is a likelihood that the creation of the angels predates that. The phrase 'so long' is both extremely literal as well as an amazing understatement. During the lifetime of Adam and Eve, the record from the Bible indicates that the name of God was used, but by the time Moses was born the scriptures show that none of mankind still knew the Name. Perhaps an argument could be made that this knowledge was lost at the time of Noah, when only he and his relatives survived the flood. When Moses first spoke with God and asked His Name, God said, 'I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not let myself be known by My Name.' When Moses heard the name of God he realized that since he had a speech impediment as a result of a harelip, he was unable to pronounce it accurately. He was able to say 'Allah' and that was the name conveyed to Pharaoh and the Egyptians and the name Allah was referenced from that point in time till today. Further details in the Torah describe the role of Aaron who acted as Moses' mouthpiece and conveyed the Name of God distinctly as 'YHWH' to the Israelites. The pronunciation of YHWH is described in Psalms 8.2 by the prophet who wrote, 'Thou hast made babes, infants at the breast sound aloud Thy praise.' In what is commonly referred to as the 'New Testament' God is referred to by a slightly abbreviated form as the 'Alpha and Omega', the beginning and the end, literally and figuratively.
This name constitutes the First Commandment and embodied in the rest of the Ten Commandments is the rest of the alphabet as revealed by God to Moses and Aaron, ultimately replacing for the first time the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. At the completion of Soloman's Temple the name of God was made unlawful; its public use was punishable by death by the Jews living at the time. 'Allah' was the only name which remained commonly preserved and has continued to be used throughout the middle east. A simple google/ YouTube search, 'infant cry' provides the best pronunciation as mentioned by Psalms 8.2. In the New Testament the reference is Matthew 21.16.
It is common to regard the written name of one's God as deserving of respect
; it ought not, for instance, be stepped upon or dirtied, or made common slang
in such a way as to show disrespect. It may be permissible to burn the written name when there is no longer a use for it.
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
present in liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
or prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
of various world religions. Prayer involving the Holy Name or the Name of God has become established as common spiritual practice in both Western and Eastern spiritual practices. A number of traditions have lists of many names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of the Supreme Being. According to Islam, the earliest mention of the name of God is found in the Koran sura 2, The Cow: "When your Lord said to the angels: 'I am placing on the earth one that shall rule as My deputy,' they replied: 'Will You put there one that will do evil and shed blood, when we have for so long sung Your praises and sanctified Your Name?" Mohammad encouraged his followers to call upon God by any of His 99 Names. Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
refers to 72 Divine Names
Names of God in Judaism
In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title; it represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people and to the world. To demonstrate the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for...
, and the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
scripture Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
contains a thousand names of Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
.
The English word "God" is used by multiple religions as a noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
or name
Proper noun
A proper noun or proper name is a noun representing a unique entity , as distinguished from a common noun, which represents a class of entities —for example, city, planet, person or corporation)...
to refer to different deities.
Ancient cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
equivalents for the word "God" include proto-Semitic El (deity), Hebrew Elohim
Elohim
Elohim is a grammatically singular or plural noun for "god" or "gods" in both modern and ancient Hebrew language. When used with singular verbs and adjectives elohim is usually singular, "god" or especially, the God. When used with plural verbs and adjectives elohim is usually plural, "gods" or...
"God or/of gods", Arabic 'ilah "(an or the) god", and Biblical Aramaic
Biblical Aramaic
Biblical Aramaic is the form of the Aramaic language that is used in the books of Daniel, Ezra and a few other places in the Hebrew Bible and should not be confused with the Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible known as targumim....
Elaha "God". The personal or proper name
Proper name
"A proper name [is] a word that answers the purpose of showing what thing it is that we are talking about" writes John Stuart Mill in A System of Logic , "but not of telling anything about it"...
for God in many of these languages may either be distinguished from such attributes
Property (philosophy)
In modern philosophy, logic, and mathematics a property is an attribute of an object; a red object is said to have the property of redness. The property may be considered a form of object in its own right, able to possess other properties. A property however differs from individual objects in that...
, or homonym
Homonym
In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that often but not necessarily share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings...
ic. For example, in Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
the Holy Name
Tetragrammaton
The term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...
is sometimes related to the ancient Hebrew ehyeh, "I AM
I Am that I Am
I Am that I Am is a common English translation of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name . It is one of the most famous verses in the Torah...
". In Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
the term Brahman
Brahman
In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
or Parabrahman is often used, while in other cases the proper name for a deity is given special significance as a true name of God; or incorporated from earlier beliefs, as in the case of the Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
appellation Gitche Manitou
Gitche Manitou
Gitche Manitou means "Great Spirit" in several Algonquian languages. The term was also utilized to signify God by Christian missionaries, when translating scriptures and prayers, etc...
.
Correlation between various theories and interpretation of the Name of God, used to signify a monotheistic or ultimate Supreme Being
Supreme Being
The term Supreme Being is often defined simply as "God", and it is used with this meaning by theologians of many religious faiths, including, but not limited to, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Deism. However, the term can also refer to more complex or philosophical interpretations of the...
from which all other divine attributes derive, has been a subject of ecumenical discourse between Eastern and Western scholars for over two centuries. In Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
theology the word must be a personal and a proper name of God; hence it cannot be dismissed as mere metaphor. On the other hand, the Names of God in a different tradition are sometimes referred as symbols. The question whether divine names used by different religions are equivalent has been raised and analyzed. See also Taboos below.
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 Om
Om
Om is a sacred syllable of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.OM and similar may also refer to:-Music:* Om , a stoner metal band* Om , a 1965 album* OM , a 2006 album* Om...
and Gayatri
Gayatri
Gayatri is the feminine form of , a Sanskrit word for a song or a hymn. Gayatri is a consort of Brahma and the goddess of learning. Brahma married her when there was a need for a companion during a yajna. Brahma had to start the yajna along with his wife...
within the Indian Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
community) but usage of the names themselves mostly remain within the domain of a particular religion, or even may help define ones' religious belief according to practice, as in the case of the recitation of names of God (such as the japa
Japa
Japa is a spiritual discipline involving the meditative repetition of a mantra or name of a divine power. The mantra or name may be spoken softly, enough for the practitioner to hear it, or it may be spoken purely within the recitor's mind...
). 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
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
on the nature and significance of the Names of God. 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.
One definition of the Name of God was given by Elisha Mulford as 'that name which passes into the common forms of thought'. The author states that in its derivation it may have an ethical significance. Other writers suggest that the "name of God represents the nature of God". The attitude as to the transmission of the Name in many cultures was surrounded by secrecy. The pronunciation of the Name of God, in Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, has always been guarded
with great care. It is believed that in ancient times the sages communicated the pronunciation only once every seven years; this system was challenged by more recent movements.
The nature of a holy name can be described as either personal or the 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.
Hinduism
Within HinduismHinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, there are a number of names of God which are generally in Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, each supported by a different tradition within the religion. Brahma, Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
, Bhagavan, Ishvara, and Paramatma are among the most commonly used terms
Terminology
Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings, meanings that may deviate from the meaning the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. The discipline Terminology studies among other...
for God in the scriptures of Hinduism.
- Adi Purush means "Timeless Being", "Primordial Lord", "First Person".
- Bhagwaan (Bhagwan or Bhagavan) means "God".
- BrahmaBrahmaBrahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
. - Ishvar (īśvar) means "Cosmic Controller" or "Lord".
- Maheshvar (mahā-īśhvar) means "Great Lord", used as an attribute of god ShivaShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
within ShaivismShaivismShaivism is one of the four major sects of Hinduism, the others being Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas," and also "Saivas" or "Saivites," revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in all, the creator, preserver, destroyer,...
traditions. - Para BrahmanPara BrahmanPara Brahman or Param Brahman - is a term often used by Vedantic philosophers as to the "attainment of the ultimate goal". Adi Shankara has said that there is only one Supreme Para-Brahman and all the other deities are the forms and expansions of this Para-Brahman...
(para-brahma), an ineffable entity, best translated as "The Absolute Truth", Supreme Brahman, or Supreme Cosmic Spirit. - ParamatmanParamatmanIn Hindu theology, Paramatman or Paramātmā is the Absolute Atman or Supreme Soul or Spirit in the Vedanta and Yoga philosophies of India....
(parama-ātman) means "Supreme Soul". - Parameshvar (parama-īśvara) means "Supreme Lord".
- VishnuVishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
is seen as Para BrahmanPara BrahmanPara Brahman or Param Brahman - is a term often used by Vedantic philosophers as to the "attainment of the ultimate goal". Adi Shankara has said that there is only one Supreme Para-Brahman and all the other deities are the forms and expansions of this Para-Brahman...
within Vaishnava traditions, and the Vishnu SahasranamaVishnu sahasranamaThe Vishnu sahasranama is a list of 1,000 names of Vishnu, one of the main forms of God in Hinduism and the personal supreme God for Vaishnavas . It is also one of the most sacred and commonly chanted stotras in Hinduism...
enumerates 1000 names of Vishnu, each name eulogizing one of His countless great attributes. The names of VishnuVishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
's Dasavatara in particular are considered divine names. - KrishnaKrishnaKrishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
is associated with VishnuVishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
and certain Vaishnava traditions also regard Him as Para BrahmanPara BrahmanPara Brahman or Param Brahman - is a term often used by Vedantic philosophers as to the "attainment of the ultimate goal". Adi Shankara has said that there is only one Supreme Para-Brahman and all the other deities are the forms and expansions of this Para-Brahman...
and Svayam BhagavanSvayam BhagavanSvayam Bhagavan , "The Lord" or Lord Himself, is a Sanskrit theological term. The term refers to the concept of absolute representation of the monotheistic God as Bhagavan within Hinduism....
(svayambhagavān) or the Lord Himself. In Krishna-centered schoolsKrishnaismKrishnaism is a group of Hindu denominations within Vaishnavism, centered on devotion to Radha Krishna or other forms of Krishna, identified with Vishnu.The central text of Krishnaism is the Bhagavad Gita....
of Vaishnavism, which includes the NimbarkaNimbarkaNimbarka , is known for propagating the Vaishnava Theology of Dvaitadvaita, duality in unity. According to scholars headed by Prof. Roma Bose, he lived in the 13th Century, on the assumption that Śrī Nimbārkācārya was the author of the work Madhvamukhamardana...
, Vallabha and Caitanya schools KrishnaKrishnaKrishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
is held as the Supreme Personality of Godhead based on the descriptions of Him within the Bhagavata PuranaBhagavata puranaThe Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
and MahabharataMahabharataThe Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, with particular reference to the Bhagavad-Gita. - RamaRamaRama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
(Rāma) is associated with VishnuVishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
and is especially venerated in bhaktiBhaktiIn Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
literature, such as that of KabirKabirKabīr was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement...
and Ravidas, and more recently in the writings of Mohandas Gandhi.
Sahasranama
A Sahasranama , literally "a thousand names") is a type of Hindu scripture in which a deity is referred to by 1,000 or more different names. Sahasranama are classified as stotrasStotras
In Hinduism, a Stotra is a hymn of praise. These hymns praise aspects of the divine, such as Devi, Siva, or Vishnu. Relating to word "stuti", coming from the same verb, stu , and basically both mean "praise"....
, or hymns of praise, a type of devotional scripture. There are Sahasranama for Ganesha
Ganesha Sahasranama
The Ganesha Sahasranama is a litany of the names of Hindu deity Ganesha . A sahasranama is a Hindu hymn of praise in which a deity is referred to by 1,000 or more different names...
, Lalita
Lalita sahasranama
Lalita sahasranama is a sacred Hindu text dated to the 12th century A.D. for the worshippers of the Goddess Lalita Devi, i.e. the Divine Mother, in the form of her and the male gods' feminine power, Shakti. Lalita is the Goddess of bliss, an epithet for Parvati. Etymologically, "Lalita" means "She...
, Rama
Shiva sahasranama
A Shiva sahasranama is a list of a thousand names of Shiva, one of the most important deities in Hinduism. In Hindu tradition a sahasranama is a type of devotional hymn listing many names of a deity...
, Shiva
Shiva sahasranama
A Shiva sahasranama is a list of a thousand names of Shiva, one of the most important deities in Hinduism. In Hindu tradition a sahasranama is a type of devotional hymn listing many names of a deity...
and Vishnu
Vishnu sahasranama
The Vishnu sahasranama is a list of 1,000 names of Vishnu, one of the main forms of God in Hinduism and the personal supreme God for Vaishnavas . It is also one of the most sacred and commonly chanted stotras in Hinduism...
. There are also many shorter stotras which have only 108 names.
Sikhism
There are multiple names for God in Sikhism. Some of the popular names for God in Sikhism are:- WaheguruWaheguruWaheguru is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God, the Supreme Being or the creator of all. It means "The Good/Best Teacher" in the Punjabi language. Wahi means "good" and "Guru" is a term denoting "teacher"....
, meaning Wonderful Teacher bringing light to remove darkness, this name is considered the greatest among Sikhs, and it is known as "Gurmantar", the Guru's Word.Waheguru is the only way to meet god in sikhism. - Ek OnkarEk OnkarIk Onkar is a central tenet of Sikh religious philosophy. It is a symbol of the unity of God in Sikhism, and is found on all religious scriptures and places such as Gurdwaras. Derived from Punjabi, Ik Onkār is the first phrase in the Mul Mantar referring to the existence of "one constant" taken to...
, ek meaning "one", emphasizes the singularity of God. It is the beginning of the Sikh Mool Mantra. - SatnamSatnamSatnam is the main word that appears in the Sikh sacred scripture called the Guru Granth Sahib. It is part of the Gurbani shabad called Mool Mantra which is repeated daily by all Sikhs. This word succeeds the word "Ek-onkar" which means "There is only one constant" or commonly "There is one God"....
meaning True Name, some are of the opinion that this is a name for God in itself, others believe that this is an adjective used to describe the "Gurmantar", Waheguru (See below) - NirankarNirankarNirankar means without form or formless and is used in the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, to refer to God....
, meaning formless One - Akal PurakhAkal PurakhAkal Purakh is a Sikh name used for God.Literally it means "a timeless being whom never dies." The first word Akal, literally timeless, immortal, non-temporal, is a term integral to Sikh tradition and philosophy. It is extensively used in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib and Dasam Granth hymns by Guru...
, meaning timeless One
God according to Guru Nanak is beyond full comprehension by human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s; has endless number of virtues; takes on innumerable forms; and can be called by an infinite number of names thus "Your Names are so many, and Your Forms are endless. No one can tell how many Glorious Virtues You have."
Abrahamic religions
According to the BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, the name of God was used during the lifetime of Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
, but by the time Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
was born, the scriptures imply that none of mankind still knew the Name. In the Book of Exodus, God commands Moses to tell the people that 'I AM' sent him, and this is revered as one of the most important names of God according to Mosaic tradition.
Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM who I AM
I Am that I AmI Am that I Am is a common English translation of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name . It is one of the most famous verses in the Torah...
." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I Am, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
—Exodus 3:13-15
According to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, the earliest mention of the name of God is found in the Koran sura
Sura
A sura is a division of the Qur'an, often referred to as a chapter. The term chapter is sometimes avoided, as the suras are of unequal length; the shortest sura has only three ayat while the longest contains 286 ayat...
2, The Cow: "When your Lord said to the angels: 'I am placing on the earth one that shall rule as My deputy,' they replied: 'Will You put there one that will do evil and shed blood, when we have for so long sung Your praises and sanctified Your Name?"
In Exodus 6:3, when Moses first spoke with God, God said, 'I used to appear to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai
El Shaddai
El Shaddai [shah-'dah-yy] is one of the Judaic names of God, with its etymology coming from the influence of the Ugaritic religion on modern Judaism. El Shaddai is conventionally translated as God Almighty...
, but I did not make myself known to them by My Name YHWH
Tetragrammaton
The term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...
.' When Moses heard the name of God he realized that since he had a speech impediment as a result of what he called "uncircumcised lips" (Ex 6:12), he was unable to pronounce it accurately. He was able to say 'Allah' and that was the name conveyed to Pharaoh and the Egyptians and the name Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
was referenced from that point in time.
The Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
further describes the role of Aaron
Aaron
In the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites...
who acted as Moses' mouthpiece and conveyed the Name of God distinctly to the Israelites (transcribed as 'YHWH' in Biblical Hebrew), and conveyed the Name of God distinctly as 'YHWH' to the Israelites. The pronunciation of YHWH is described in Psalms 8.2 by the prophet who wrote, 'Thou hast made babes, infants at the breast sound aloud Thy praise.' Several thousands of years later commentaries additionally suggested that the true pronunciation of this name is composed entirely of vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s, such as the Greek Ιαουε, as they allow the creation of language, thus conveying the absolute infinite potential of God's character. However, this is put into question by the fact that vowels were only distinguished in the time-period by their very absence due to the lack of explicit vowels in the Hebrew script. The resulting substitute made from semivowels and glottals
Mater lectionis
In the spelling of Hebrew and some other Semitic languages, matres lectionis , refers to the use of certain consonants to indicate a vowel. The letters that do this in Hebrew are aleph, he, waw and yod...
, known as the tetragrammaton
Tetragrammaton
The term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...
, is considered the proper name
Proper name
"A proper name [is] a word that answers the purpose of showing what thing it is that we are talking about" writes John Stuart Mill in A System of Logic , "but not of telling anything about it"...
of God in Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and is not ordinarily permitted to pronounce it aloud, even in prayer. The prohibition on misuse (not use) of this name is the primary subject of the command not to take the name of the Lord in vain. See also Taboos below.
Judaism
In the Hebrew scripturesTanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
the Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
name of God is considered sacred and, out of deep respect for the name, Jews do not say the name of God and do not erase it if it is written. (See Exodus 20:7) The tetragrammaton
Tetragrammaton
The term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...
(Hebrew:, YHVH) is the name for the group of four Hebrew letters which represent the name of God. The Tetragrammaton occurs 6,828 times in the Hebrew text in the Biblia Hebraica and the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, or ', is an edition of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, and supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes...
. Neither vowels nor vowel points were used in ancient Hebrew writings.
Some claim the pronunciation of YHWH has been lost, while other authorities say it has not and that it is pronounced Yahweh
Yahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
. References, such as The New Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
, validate the above by offering additional specifics:
Early Christian writers, such as Clement of AlexandriaClement of AlexandriaTitus Flavius Clemens , known as Clement of Alexandria , was a Christian theologian and the head of the noted Catechetical School of Alexandria. Clement is best remembered as the teacher of Origen...
in the 2nd century, had used a form like YahwehYahwehYahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
, and claim that this pronunciation of the tetragrammatonTetragrammatonThe term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...
was never really lost. Other Greek transcriptions also indicated that YHWH should be pronounced YahwehYahwehYahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
.
Clement of Alexandria transliterated the tetragrammaton as Ιαου. The above claims were founded upon the understanding that Clement of Alexandria had transliterated YHWH as Ιαουε in Greek, which is pronounced "Yahweh" in English. However, the final -e in the latter form has been shown as having been a later addition. For a more in-depth discussion of this, see the article Yahweh
Yahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
.
The original statement commonly translated "I AM" is Ehyeh (Hebrew: אהיה), from Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh, "I Am that I Am
I Am that I Am
I Am that I Am is a common English translation of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name . It is one of the most famous verses in the Torah...
(or will be, ongoing)" and is commonly given as a sacred name for God. Rabbinical interpreters and some scholars have asserted that Yahweh
Yahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
is an archaic third person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
form of hayah "to be", which is rendered Ehyeh when spoken by God in the first person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
; critics of this theory note that the proper triconsonantal root would seem to be h-w-h.
Instead of pronouncing YHWH during prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
, Jews say Adonai ("Lord"). Halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
requires that secondary rules be placed around the primary law, to reduce the chance that the main law will be broken. As such, it is common Jewish practice to restrict the use of the word Adonai to prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
only. In conversation, many Jewish people, even when not speaking Hebrew, will call God "Hashem", השם, which is Hebrew for "the Name" (this appears in Leviticus
Leviticus
The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....
24:11).
A common title of God in the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
is Elohim
Elohim
Elohim is a grammatically singular or plural noun for "god" or "gods" in both modern and ancient Hebrew language. When used with singular verbs and adjectives elohim is usually singular, "god" or especially, the God. When used with plural verbs and adjectives elohim is usually plural, "gods" or...
(Hebrew: אלהים); as opposed to other titles of God in Judaism, this name also describes gods of other religions, angels, or even humans of great importance (John 10:34-36). The root Eloah אלה is a feminine noun, meaning goddess, also used in poetry and late prose (e.g. the Book of Job
Book of Job
The Book of Job , commonly referred to simply as Job, is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of Job, his trials at the hands of Satan, his discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, his challenge to God, and finally a response from God. The book is a...
) and ending with the masculine plural suffix "-im" ים creating a word that indicates a plurality of both masculine and feminine essences yet in a singular identity "G-d".
The Hebrew name of God - El: The word El comes from a root word meaning - might, strength, power. Sometimes referring to God and sometimes the mighty when used to refer to the true God of Israel, El is almost always qualified by additional words that further define the meaning that distinguish Him from false gods.
Most observant Jews forbid discarding holy objects, including any document with a name of God written on it. Once written, the name must be preserved indefinitely. This leads to several noteworthy practices:
- Commonplace materials are written with an intentionally abbreviated form of the name. For instance, a Jewish letter-writer may substitute "G-d" for the name God. (Note that not all Jews agree that non-Hebrew words like God are covered under the prohibition.)
- Since the Divine presenceDivine presenceDivine presence, presence of God, or simply presence is a concept in religion, spirituality, and theology that deals with the omnipotent ability of a god and/or gods to be "present" with human beings...
(or possibly an appearance of GodTheophanyTheophany, from the Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of God"), refers to the appearance of a deity to a human or other being, or to a divine disclosure....
) can supposedly be called simply by pronouncing His true nameTrue nameA true name is a name of a thing or being that expresses, or is somehow identical with, its true nature. The notion that language, or some specific sacred language, refers to things by their true names has been central to philosophical and grammatical study as well as various traditions of magic,...
correctly, substitute names are used. - Copies of the TorahTorahTorah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
are, like most scriptures, heavily used during worshipWorshipWorship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...
services, and will eventually become worn out. Since they may not be disposed of in any way, including by burning, they are removed, traditionally to the synagogueSynagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
atticAtticAn attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...
. See genizahGenizahA genizah is the store-room or depository in a Jewish synagogue , usually specifically for worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics that were stored there before they could receive a proper cemetery burial, it being forbidden to throw away writings...
. There they remain until they are buried. - All religious texts that include the name of God are buried. See also Taboos below.
Christianity
The authors of the New Testament took for granted the existence of the God of the Old Testament. They believed in YahwehYahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
, "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," whom the Jews worshipped as the one true God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
.
The New Testament teaches that there is only one God who is pure spirit; the creator of the world, holy and good, all-powerful, and worthy of humanity's worship and love. English translations of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
render ho theos (Greek: Ο Θεός) as God and ho kurios (Greek: Ο Κύριος) as "the Lord
Lord
Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...
".
Following the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, God is referred to in slightly abbreviated form as the 'Alpha and Omega
Alpha and Omega
The term Alpha and Omega comes from the phrase "I am the alpha and the omega" , an appellation of Jesus in the Book of Revelation ....
', the beginning and the end
Eschatology
Eschatology is a part of theology, philosophy, and futurology concerned with what are believed to be the final events in history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world or the World to Come...
, literally and figuratively.
Another title of God is ho on (Greek: Ο Ων), often depicted in Orthodox iconography, literally meaning he who is or he who exists but usually translated as the living God or "I Am that I Am
I Am that I Am
I Am that I Am is a common English translation of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name . It is one of the most famous verses in the Torah...
".
Regarding the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
, the Israelite theonyms Elohim
Elohim
Elohim is a grammatically singular or plural noun for "god" or "gods" in both modern and ancient Hebrew language. When used with singular verbs and adjectives elohim is usually singular, "god" or especially, the God. When used with plural verbs and adjectives elohim is usually plural, "gods" or...
and Yahweh
Yahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
are mostly rendered as "God" and "the Lord" respectively, although in the Protestant tradition, the personal names Yahweh
Yahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
and Jehovah
Jehovah
Jehovah is an anglicized representation of Hebrew , a vocalization of the Tetragrammaton , the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible....
, based on the tetragrammaton
Tetragrammaton
The term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...
, are also used.
Jehovah appears in Tyndale's Bible, the King James Version, and other translations from that time period and later. Many translations of the Bible translate the tetragrammaton as , following the Jewish practice of substituting the spoken Hebrew word 'Adonai' (translated as 'Lord') for YHWH when read aloud.
Many avoid using either Yahweh or Jehovah altogether on the basis that the actual pronunciation of the 'tetragrammaton has been lost in antiquity. They use God or The Lord instead.
Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
(Iesus, Yeshua
Yeshua (name)
Yeshua, was a common alternative form of the name Joshua "Yehoshuah" in later books of the Hebrew Bible and among Jews of the Second Temple Period...
, Joshua (Yahshua), or Yehoshûa
Yehoshua
Yehoshua may refer to:* Yehoshua, the Hebrew of Joshua and Jesus* Book of Joshua , a book of the Bible* Yehoshua , a rare Hebrew surname* Joshua , a rare Hebrew given name...
) (Arabic: يسوع) is a Hebraic personal name meaning "Yahweh saves/helps/is salvation". Christ means "the anointed" in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
(Greek text: Χριστός). Khristos is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
(Arabic: المسيح); while in English the old Anglo-Saxon Messiah-rendering hæland 'healer' was practically annihilated by the Latin Christ, some cognates such as heiland in Dutch and Afrikaans survive.
In Messianic Judaism
Messianic Judaism
Messianic Judaism is a syncretic religious movement that arose in the 1960s and 70s. It blends evangelical Christian theology with elements of Jewish terminology and ritual....
, generally regarded as a form of Christianity, YHWH (pre-incarnate) and Yeshua (incarnate) are one and the same, the second Person, with the Father and Ruach haQodesh (the Holy Spirit) being the first and third Persons, respectively, of ha'Elohiym (the Godhead). YHWH is expressed as "haShem," which means 'the Name.'
Some Quakers
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
often refer to God as The Light
Light (theology)
In theology, light or divine light is a term used to refer to an aspect of divine presence, specifically an unknown and mysterious ability of God, angels, or human beings to express themselves communicatively through spiritual means, rather than through physical capacities...
. Another term used is 'King of Kings
King of Kings
King of Kings is a title that has been used by several monarchies and empires throughout history. The title originates in the Ancient Near East. It is broadly the equivalent of the later title Emperor....
' or 'Lord of Lords' and Lord of the Hosts. Other names used by Christians include Ancient of Days
Ancient of Days
Ancient of Days is a name for God in Aramaic: Atik Yomin; in the Greek Septuagint: Palaios Hemeron; and in the Vulgate: Antiquus Dierum....
, Father
God the Father
God the Father is a gendered title given to God in many monotheistic religions, particularly patriarchal, Abrahamic ones. In Judaism, God is called Father because he is the creator, life-giver, law-giver, and protector...
/Abba, 'Most High' and the Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew language
Biblical Hebrew , also called Classical Hebrew , is the archaic form of the Hebrew language, a Canaanite Semitic language spoken in the area known as Canaan between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Biblical Hebrew is attested from about the 10th century BCE, and persisted through...
names Elohim
Elohim
Elohim is a grammatically singular or plural noun for "god" or "gods" in both modern and ancient Hebrew language. When used with singular verbs and adjectives elohim is usually singular, "god" or especially, the God. When used with plural verbs and adjectives elohim is usually plural, "gods" or...
, El-Shaddai, and Adonai. The name, "Abba/Father" is the most common
term used for the creator within Christianity, because it was the name Jesus Christ (Yeshua Messiah) himself used to refer to God.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
consistently use the name Jehovah
Jehovah
Jehovah is an anglicized representation of Hebrew , a vocalization of the Tetragrammaton , the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible....
for God the Father as this is the personal name that God has revealed to humans through his written word the Holy Bible. Psalm 83:18 (Exodus 6:3, Isaiah 12:2 & 26:4) King James Version.
In Mormonism Father God's name is Elohim and Jesus name in his preincarnate state was Jehovah.
In the movement Imiaslavie
Imiaslavie
Imiaslavie or Imiabozhie , also spelled imyaslavie and imyabozhie, and also referred to as onomatodoxy, is a dogmatic movement which was condemned by the Russian Orthodox Church, but that is still promoted by some affiliated with Gregory Lourie of the "Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church" , and by...
("Name glorification") opposed by the Russian Orthodox Church, the name of God is God Himself and can be used to evoke miracles.
Shangdi
Shangdi
Shangdi , also known as Di in Oracle Bone Inscription and Thirteen Classics, refers to the supreme god or a divine power regarded as the spiritual ultimate by the Chinese people from the Shang Dynasty. He controlled victory in battle, harvest, the fate of the kingdom, and the weather...
上帝 (pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
shàng dì, literally 'King Above') is also used to refer to the Christian God in the Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
Union Version of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. Korean Catholics and Korean Anglicans use a cognate of this name (sangje, which has largely fallen out of regular use in favor of the term cheon-ju/Tian Zhu listed below; this usage was applicable only not using the vernacular haneunim, which was the traditional Korean name for the mythological God of Heaven, a primary, but not the only, Korean mythological deity; liberal-minded Korean Protestants also use haneunim, but not sangje, and conservative Korean Protestants do not use sangje or haneunim at all but instead use hananim, which implied the oneness of the Almighty distinct from the mythological implications they see in the term haneunim). Many Vietnamese Christians also use cognates of this name (expected to have a distribution in usage similar to Korean Christians, with Anglicans and Catholics using sangje in ritual/ceremonial contexts and Protestants not using it at all), to refer to the Biblical God.
Shen
Shen (Chinese religion)
Shen is a keyword in Chinese philosophy, Chinese religion, and Traditional Chinese Medicine.-Pronunciation:Shén is the Modern Standard Chinese pronunciation of 神 "spirit; god, deity; spiritual, supernatural; awareness, consciousness etc". Reconstructions of shén in Middle Chinese Shen is a...
神 (lit. God, spirit, or deity) was adopted by Protestant missionaries in China to refer to the Christian God. In this context it is usually rendered with a space, " 神", to demonstrate reverence.
Zhu
Zhu
Zhu or ZHU may refer to:*Zhu , ancient Chinese string instrument*Zhu , ancient Chinese percussion instrument*Zhuhai Sanzao Airport - ZHU is the 3 letter IATA code for the airport...
, Tian Zhu 主,天主 (lit. Lord or Lord in Heaven) is translated from the English word, "Lord", which is a formal title of the Christian God in Mainland China's Christian churches. Korean Catholics also use the Korean cognate of this term, cheon-ju, as the primary reference to God in both ritual/ceremonial and vernacular (but mostly ritual/ceremonial) contexts.
Islam
AllahAllah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
is the most frequently used name of God in Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. It is an Arabic word meaning "The God". The word Allah is a cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
of the Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
word Eloah
Elohim
Elohim is a grammatically singular or plural noun for "god" or "gods" in both modern and ancient Hebrew language. When used with singular verbs and adjectives elohim is usually singular, "god" or especially, the God. When used with plural verbs and adjectives elohim is usually plural, "gods" or...
.
A well established Islamic tradition enumerates 99 names of God, each representing certain attributes or descriptions of God, in which God is seen as being the source and maximum extent of each name's meaning. The names Ar-Rahman
Ar-Rahman
Surat ar-Rahman is the 55th sura of the Qur'an with 78 ayats.It has the refrain: "Then which of the favours of your Lord will you deny?"- Verse :Ar-Rahman is often regarded as the 'beauty of the Quran', in accordance with a hadith:...
and Ar-Rahim are the most frequently mentioned in the Qur'an, both meaning the "Most Merciful", but with different emphasis of meaning, either of which are also often translated as the "Most Compassionate" or the "Most Beneficent".
Besides these Arabic names, Muslims of non-Arab origins may also sometimes use other names in their own languages to God, such as Khoda in Persian language
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
or the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
anachronism Tanrı (originally the pre-Islamic Tengrianist
Tengriism
Tengriism is a Central Asian religion that incorporates elements of shamanism, animism, totemism and ancestor worship. Despite still being active in some minorities, it was, in old times, the major belief of Turkic peoples , Bulgars, Hungarians and Mongols...
Turks' celestial chief god, corresponding to the Ancient Turkic god Tengri
Tengri
Tengri or Tengger Tengri or Tengger Tengri or Tengger (Old Turkic: ; Mongolian: Тэнгэр, Tenger; Chinese: 腾格里, Mandarin: Ténggélǐ, Hungarian: Tengri, Turkish: Tanrı, Bulgarian: Tangra (Тангра) is a sky god, formerly the chief deity of the early Turkic peoples, including the Xiongnu, Huns, Bulgars,...
). The use of the word "God" in English is also seen as acceptable to Muslims.
The term is used throughout the Qur'an in passages detailing the existence of God and of the beliefs of non-Muslims in other divinities. Notably, the first statement of the shahadah is "there is no ʾilāh but al-Lāh", "there is no god but Allah" (The Almighty God), which cancels out the possibility of other "gods" as it uses "the" referring to "One".
African religions
A prof. John Mbiti has compiled a list of indigenous names which have been used for God by various peoples of Africa, for example:- Abaluyia (Kenya): Wele, Nyasaye, Nabongo, Khakaba, Isaywa
- Acholi (Uganda): Juok Or Jok, Lubanga
- Adjuru (Côte D'ivoire): Nyam
- Afusare (Nigeria): Daxunum
- Akamba (Kenya): Mulungu, Ngai, Mumbi, Mwatuangi, Asa
- AkanAkan languageAkan, also known as Twi and Fante, is an Akan language that is the principal native language of Ghana, spoken over much of the southern half of that country, by about 52% of the population, and to a lesser extent across the border in eastern Côte d'Ivoire...
(Ghana): Nyame, Nana Nyankopon, Onyame, Amowia, Amosu, Amaomee, Totorobonsu, Brekyirihunuade, Abommubuwafre, Nyaamanekose, Tetekwaframua, Nana, Borebore - AlurAlur languageAlur is spoken in northwestern Uganda and northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Alur people.Dialects*Jokot*Jonam *Mambisa*Wanyoro- Phonetics :VowelsAlur has 9 vowels....
(Uganda, Congo Dr): Jok, Jok Rubanga, Jok Nyakaswiya, Jok Odudu, Jok Adranga, Jok Atar - AmbaAmba language (Uganda)Amba is a language spoken in parts of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo by the Amba people. The Amba people call it Kwamba and it is known as Kihumu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Amba has a 70% lexical similarity with Bera...
(Uganda): Nyakara - AmboAmboAmbo may refer to:* Ambo Village in Kiribati where the parliament of Kiribati sits, also known for the Ambo declaration issued at the Tarawa Climate Change Conference, an international diplomatic conference held in Kiribati in November 2010...
(Zambia): Lesa, Cuta - Ankore (Uganda): Ruhanga, Nyamuhanga, Omuhangi, Rugaba, Kazooba, Mukameiguru, Kazooba Nyamuhanga
- AnuakAnuak languageAnuak or Anywa is a Nilotic language of the Nilo-Saharan language family. It is spoken primarily in the Western part of Ethiopia by the Anuak. Other names for this language include: Anyuak, Anywa, Yambo, Jambo, Yembo, Bar, Burjin, Miroy, Moojanga, Nuro.Anywa does not have phonemic fricatives.-...
(Sudan): Juok - ArushaArushaArusha is a city in northern Tanzania. It is the capital of the Arusha Region, which claims a population of 1,288,088, including 281,608 for the Arusha District . Arusha is surrounded by some of Africa's most famous landscapes and national parks...
(Tanzania): Engai - BasaBasa languageBasa, also called Abacha, Abatsa, Basa-Benue, Bassa-Komo, Bassa-Kwomu, Rubasa, and Rubassa, is a Kainji language spoken in central Nigeria, in the vicinity of Bassa, Ankpa, Nasarawa, and Kwali Local Government Areas and of the city of Makurdi.Basa speakers also often speak Igala or Nupe....
(Nigeria): Agwatana - Basoga (Uganda): Kibumba, Kiduma, Kyaka, Nambubi, Lubanga
- Basuto (Lesotho): Molimo
- Bavenda (South Africa): Raluvhimba, Mwari
- Baya (Central African Republic): So, Zambi
- Beir (Sudan): Tummu
- Dungi (Nigeria): Kasiri, Kashira
- DurumaDurumaDuruma is a settlement in Kenya's Coast Province.Chi-Duruma is the local dialect of Mijikenda language...
(Kenya): Mulungu - EbriéEbriéThe Ebrié are an Akan people people living in the Abidjan region of Côte d'Ivoire.The lagoon separating the Plateau neighborhood from the rest of the city is often called the Ebrié lagoon. The Ebrié represent approximately 0.7% of the country's population....
(Ivory Coast): Nyangka - Edo StateEdo StateEdo State is an inland state in central southern Nigeria. Its capital is Benin City. It is bounded in the north and east by Kogi State, in the south by Delta State and in the west by Ondo State.-History:...
(Nigeria): OsanobuaOsanobuaOsanobua is the name for God Almighty in Edo language. It is often abbrevated as Osa, which is commonly integrated into modern Edo names, such as Esosa, which means God's goodness or gift; Eghosa, God's time; and Efosa, God's blessings or wealth.The Edo as a state has several languages, The Beni,...
, Osa - Efik mythologyEfik mythologyIn Efik mythology, Abassi is considered to be the creator god. His wife, Atai, is known as the mediator. It is believed that Atai convinced Abassi to allow two humans , also known as their children, to live on Earth, but forbade them to work or reproduce. The children were required to return to...
(Nigeria): Abasi, Obong - Egede, Enugu (Nigeria): Ohe
- Ekoi mythologyEkoi mythologyThe primary traditional Ekoi deities are Obassi Osaw, the sky god, and Obassi Nsi, the earth god, similar to the Efik. Ancestors and natural forces are also emphasized in Ekoi worship. Various Ekoi cults are devoted to the welfare of common activities, such as farming...
(Cameroon, Nigeria): Osawa, Nsi - Elgeyo people (Kenya): Asis
- Embu (Kenya): Ngai
Others Include:
- ChukwuChukwuChukwu is the infinitely powerful, undefinable, indefinable, absolute supreme deity encompassing everything in space and space itself, in traditional Igbo spiritual belief system and Igbo mythology. Linguistic studies suggest that the name "Chukwu" is a portmanteau of the Igbo words "Chi" and "Ukwu"...
(or Chi-Ukwu) (Nigeria): Ibo - ObatalaObatalaIn the religion of the Yoruba people, Obàtálá is the creator of human bodies, which were supposedly brought to life by Olorun's breath.Obàtálá is also the owner of all ori or heads. Any orisha may lay claim to an individual, but until that individual is initiated into the priesthood of that orisha,...
, Olodumare (Nigeria): Yoruba
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'íBahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
scriptures often refer to God by various titles and attributes, such as Almighty, All-Powerful, All-Wise, Incomparable, Gracious, Helper, All-Glorious, and Omniscient. Baha'is believe the greatest of all the names of God is "All-Glorious" or Bahá in Arabic. Bahá is the root word of the following names and phrases: the greeting Alláh-u-Abhá (God is the All-Glorious), the invocation Yá Bahá'u'l-Abhá (O Thou Glory of the Most Glorious), Bahá'u'lláh (The Glory of God), and Bahá'i (Follower of the All-Glorious). These are expressed in Arabic regardless of the language in use (see Bahá'í symbols
Bahá'í symbols
Bahá'í symbols are symbols that have been used, or are used, to express identification with the Bahá'í Faith. While the five-pointed star is the symbol of the religion, being used to represent the human body and Messengers of God, more common symbols include the nine-pointed star, the Greatest...
). Apart from these names, God is addressed in the local language, for example Ishwar in Hindi, Dieux in French and Dios in Spanish. Bahá'ís believe Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh , born ' , was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. He claimed to be the prophetic fulfilment of Bábism, a 19th-century outgrowth of Shí‘ism, but in a broader sense claimed to be a messenger from God referring to the fulfilment of the eschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity, and...
, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, is the "complete incarnation of the names and attributes of God".
Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University
According to Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual UniversityBrahma Kumaris World Spiritual University
Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University or Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya is a monastic, renunciate Millenarian new religious movement of Indian origin...
, the accurate name of the one God is Shiva or Shiva Baba. Shiva means benefactor and Baba means father, normally just called "Baba" for short. Shiva does not have the same meaning in Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
.
Native American religions
In Algonquian lore, the term Gitche ManitouGitche Manitou
Gitche Manitou means "Great Spirit" in several Algonquian languages. The term was also utilized to signify God by Christian missionaries, when translating scriptures and prayers, etc...
is used to refer to a Great Spirit
Great Spirit
The Great Spirit, also called Wakan Tanka among the Sioux, the Creator or the Great Maker in English, and Gitchi Manitou in Algonquian, is a conception of a supreme being prevalent among some Native American and First Nations cultures...
or supreme being
Supreme Being
The term Supreme Being is often defined simply as "God", and it is used with this meaning by theologians of many religious faiths, including, but not limited to, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Deism. However, the term can also refer to more complex or philosophical interpretations of the...
. The term was similarly adopted by Anishnaabe Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
groups such as the Ojibwe to refer to the monotheistic God of Abrahamic tradition by extension, often by missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
syncretism
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
. However, the term has analogues dating back before European contact. While Manitou
Manitou
Manitou is a general term for spirit beings among many Algonquian Native American groups.Manitou may also refer to:- Geography :* Manitou, Manitoba, Canada* Manitou, Kentucky, USA* Manitou, Oklahoma, USA- Other uses :...
"spirit or spirits" has shamanistic
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
connotations of a collection of nature spirits in general, similar to that of Eastern religions such as Shinto
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
, however Gitche Manitou is more specifically associated with the personalized universal spirit or creator. In Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
lore this spirit is known as Wakan Tanka
Wakan Tanka
In the Sioux way of life, Wakan Tanka is the term for "the sacred" or "the divine". This is usually translated as "The Great Spirit"...
.
New religions
In the Japanese shinshūkyōShinshukyo
is a Japanese term used to describe domestic new religious movements. They are also known as in Japanese, and are most often called simply Japanese new religions in English. Japanese theologians classify all religious organizations founded since the middle of the 19th century as Shinshūkyō. Thus,...
Happy Science, God is known as "El Cantare".
In Tenrikyo
Tenrikyo
Tenrikyo is a monotheistic religion originating in revelations to a 19th-century Japanese woman named Nakayama Miki, known as Oyasama by followers...
, God is referred to as Tenri-O-no-Mikoto
Tenri-O-no-Mikoto
Tenri-Ō-no-Mikoto is the name used to refer to the single god or creator, of the entire universe in Tenrikyo's principal beliefs. In English the name most frequently used to refer to Tenri-Ō-no-Mikoto outside of ritual is "God the Parent"; in Japanese, the equivalent common name is Oyagamisama...
, Tsukihi or Oya.
Zoroastrianism
Ahura MazdaAhura Mazda
Ahura Mazdā is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism...
"Lord Wisdom" is the name of the supreme benevolent god in Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
.
The 101 Names of God
101 Names of God
In Zoroastrianism, 101 names of God is a list of names of God . The list is preserved in Persian, Pazand and Gujarati...
( Sad u yak nam-i khoda) is a list of names of Ahura Mazda. The list is preserved in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
and Gujarati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...
. Parsi
Parsi
Parsi or Parsee refers to a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in South Asia, the other being the Irani community....
tradition expanded this to a list of "1001 names of God".
Taboos
Several religions have tabooTaboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
s related to names of their God. In some cases, the name may never be spoken, only spoken by inner-circle initiates, or only spoken at prescribed moments during certain ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
s. In other cases, the name may be never freely spoken, but when written, more limited taboos apply. To avoid saying names of God, they are often modified, such as by clipping
Clipping (morphology)
In linguistics, clipping is the word formation process which consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts . Clipping is also known as "truncation" or "shortening."...
and substitution of phonetically similar words.
The earliest mention of the name of God is found in the Koran sura 2, The Cow;`When your Lord said to the angels: 'I am placing on the earth one that shall rule as My depuy,' they replied: 'Will You put there one that will do evil and shed blood, when we have for so long sung Your praises and sanctified Your Name?' It is only fairly recently that it's been determined that life on earth probably exceeds 3.4 billion years and certainly there is a likelihood that the creation of the angels predates that. The phrase 'so long' is both extremely literal as well as an amazing understatement. During the lifetime of Adam and Eve, the record from the Bible indicates that the name of God was used, but by the time Moses was born the scriptures show that none of mankind still knew the Name. Perhaps an argument could be made that this knowledge was lost at the time of Noah, when only he and his relatives survived the flood. When Moses first spoke with God and asked His Name, God said, 'I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not let myself be known by My Name.' When Moses heard the name of God he realized that since he had a speech impediment as a result of a harelip, he was unable to pronounce it accurately. He was able to say 'Allah' and that was the name conveyed to Pharaoh and the Egyptians and the name Allah was referenced from that point in time till today. Further details in the Torah describe the role of Aaron who acted as Moses' mouthpiece and conveyed the Name of God distinctly as 'YHWH' to the Israelites. The pronunciation of YHWH is described in Psalms 8.2 by the prophet who wrote, 'Thou hast made babes, infants at the breast sound aloud Thy praise.' In what is commonly referred to as the 'New Testament' God is referred to by a slightly abbreviated form as the 'Alpha and Omega', the beginning and the end, literally and figuratively.
This name constitutes the First Commandment and embodied in the rest of the Ten Commandments is the rest of the alphabet as revealed by God to Moses and Aaron, ultimately replacing for the first time the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. At the completion of Soloman's Temple the name of God was made unlawful; its public use was punishable by death by the Jews living at the time. 'Allah' was the only name which remained commonly preserved and has continued to be used throughout the middle east. A simple google/ YouTube search, 'infant cry' provides the best pronunciation as mentioned by Psalms 8.2. In the New Testament the reference is Matthew 21.16.
It is common to regard the written name of one's God as deserving of respect
Respect
Respect denotes both a positive feeling of esteem for a person or other entity , and also specific actions and conduct representative of that esteem. Respect can be a specific feeling of regard for the actual qualities of the one respected...
; it ought not, for instance, be stepped upon or dirtied, or made common slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
in such a way as to show disrespect. It may be permissible to burn the written name when there is no longer a use for it.
- In Christianity, God's name may not "be used in vain" (see the Ten CommandmentsTen CommandmentsThe Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
), which is commonly interpreted to mean that it is wrong to curseProfanityProfanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
while making reference to God (ex. "Oh my God!" as an expression of frustration or anger). Another natural interpretation of this passage is in relation to oath taking, where the command is to hold true to those commands made 'in God's name'. (The idea that Christians should hold to their word is reinforced by certain statements by Jesus in the Gospels.) God's name being used in vain can also be interpreted as trying to invoke the power of God, as a means to impress, intimidate, punish, condemn, or control others. This can also be used to refer to the idea of saying that one acts "in God's behalf" when doing things that are clearly personal actions.
- Different Christian cultures have different views on the appropriateness of naming people after God. English-speaking Christians generally would not name a son "Jesus", but "JesúsJesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
" is a common Spanish first name. This taboo does not apply to more indirect names and titles like Emmanuel or SalvadorSalvadorSalvador is normally an indirect way of naming a Messiah. In Spanish, a nickname for Salvador is Chava...
. The word "Christian" is sometimes used as a first name, and is currently the name of about 1 out of every 1500 males in the United States.
- Perhaps because of taboos on the use of the name of God and religious figures like Mary, mother of Jesus, these names are used in profanityProfanityProfanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
(a clear case is Quebec French profanityQuebec French profanityThe literal translation of the French verb sacrer is "to consecrate". However, in Quebec it is the proper word for the form of profanity used in Quebec French. The noun form is sacre....
, based mostly on Catholic concepts). More pious swearers try to substitute the blasphemyBlasphemyBlasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
against holy names with minced oathMinced oathA minced oath is an expression based on a profanity or a taboo term that has been altered to reduce the objectionable characteristics.Many languages have such expressions...
s like Jeez! instead of Jesus!, or Judas Priest! instead of Jesus Christ!
Literature and fiction
- Names of God in Old English poetryNames of God in Old English poetryIn Old English poetry, many descriptive epithets for God were used to satisfy alliterative requirements. These epithets include:- References :*Swanton, Michael James, ....
- Aigonz is the word for God in the lingua ignotaLingua IgnotaA Lingua Ignota was described by the 12th century abbess of Rupertsberg, Hildegard of Bingen, who apparently used it for mystical purposes...
of Hildegard of BingenHildegard of BingenBlessed Hildegard of Bingen , also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath. Elected a magistra by her fellow nuns in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and...
. - Eru IlúvatarEru IlúvatarEru Ilúvatar is a fictional deity in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Silmarillion as the creator of all existence . In Tolkien's invented language of Elvish, Eru means "The One", or "He that is Alone" and Ilúvatar signifies "Father of All"...
(also Ëu), a name of monotheistic God in QuenyaQuenyaQuenya is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves...
, a fictional language invented by J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
, a professor of linguistics. Notably, the creation of the universe is named Eä, (all that) Is, from the proclamation "Therefore I say: Eä! Let these things Be!", a probable reference to Ehyeh by the devoutly-religious Tolkien. - "The Nine Billion Names of GodThe Nine Billion Names of God"The Nine Billion Names of God" is a 1953 science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke. The story was the winner of the retrospective Hugo Award for Best Short Story for the year 1954.-Plot summary:...
", a short story by Arthur C. ClarkeArthur C. ClarkeSir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
. - Maleldil is the name of God (or, more accurately, of the allegorical character associated with JesusJesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
) in Old Solar, the true language in the Space TrilogySpace TrilogyThe Space Trilogy, Cosmic Trilogy or Ransom Trilogy is a trilogy of science fiction novels by C. S. Lewis, famous for his later series The Chronicles of Narnia. A philologist named Elwin Ransom is the hero of the first two novels and an important character in the third.The books in the trilogy...
books by C. S. LewisC. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
. In The Chronicles of NarniaThe Chronicles of NarniaThe Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages...
series, AslanAslanAslan, the "Great Lion," is the central character in The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. He is the eponymous lion of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and his role in Narnia is developed throughout the remaining books...
is similarly associated with JesusJesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
as a lion in a fictional other world. - In the movie Pi, the characters are looking for the true name of god, which is 216 letters long.
- In the movie WarlockWarlock (1989 film)Warlock is a 1989 American cult horror film directed by Steve Miner, written by David Twohy and produced by Roger Corman. It was also produced by New World Pictures and distributed by Trimark Pictures. The cast includes Julian Sands, Lori Singer, and Richard E. Grant...
the main character seeks out the pages of the Grand Grimoire which can be commanded to reveal the true lost name of God. If it can be spoken backwards, the universe will end. Viewers are shown the letters forming, but not the actual word, and the Warlock does not get beyond pronouncing the first (last) syllable before he is killed. - In Indiana Jones and the Last CrusadeIndiana Jones and the Last CrusadeIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas. It is the third film in the Indiana Jones franchise. Harrison Ford reprises the title role and Sean Connery plays Indiana's father, Henry...
, Indiana nearly gets killed trying to spell the name of God (JehovahJehovahJehovah is an anglicized representation of Hebrew , a vocalization of the Tetragrammaton , the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible....
) in an ancient word puzzle. He had stepped on "J" and nearly fell to his death, then remembered that in Latin Jehovah begins with an "I".
See also
- 101 Names of God101 Names of GodIn Zoroastrianism, 101 names of God is a list of names of God . The list is preserved in Persian, Pazand and Gujarati...
- BrahmanBrahmanIn Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
- God of Israel
- Good LordGood Lord (disambiguation)Good Lord may refer to:*Good Lord most commonly refers to an English phrase used in exclamation.*God*Jesus Christ, as Messiah*Good Lord, a New Zealand thoroughbred racehorse....
- Hare Krishna (mantra)
- Gitche ManitouGitche ManitouGitche Manitou means "Great Spirit" in several Algonquian languages. The term was also utilized to signify God by Christian missionaries, when translating scriptures and prayers, etc...
- List of deities
- List of titles and names of Krishna
- Names of God in JudaismNames of God in JudaismIn Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title; it represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people and to the world. To demonstrate the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for...
- Names of God in the Qur'an
- SahasranamaSahasranamaA sahasranama is a type of Hindu scripture in which a deity is referred to by 1,000 or more different names. Sahasranamas are classified as stotras, or hymns of praise, a type of devotional scripture. Sahasra means a thousand, or more generally, a very large number. Nama means name...
- Seven Names of God PrayerSeven Names of God PrayerThe Seven Names of God Prayer is a prayer given by Meher Baba to his students and close disciples to memorize and recite, often as a chant or song, at certain times during his life....
- ShemhamphoraschShemhamphoraschThe Shemhamphorasch is a corruption of the Hebrew term , which was used in tannaitic times to refer to the Tetragrammaton. In early Kabbalah the term was used to designate sometimes a seventy-two Letter name for God, and sometimes a forty two Letter name...
- TetragrammatonTetragrammatonThe term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...
- YahwehYahwehYahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
External links
- Bibliography on Divine Names in the Dead Sea Scrolls
- Education - Hearing and chanting in ISKCON
- Ehyeh and YHWH - The Relationship Between the Divine Names in Exodus 3:14-15
- Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911- Turks
- Hebrew Names of God
- Jehovah (Yahweh)
- Judeo Christian Biblical Names of God
- The 101 Names of God given by Meher BabaMeher BabaMeher Baba , , born Merwan Sheriar Irani, was an Indian mystic and spiritual master who declared publicly in 1954 that he was the Avatar of the age....
- The 1,000+ Names of God Cross-Religion Collaborative Project
- The Nectar of the Holy Name