What's In a Name

This week's edition of quotes out of context has been pre-empted to bring you a heart-felt post. Don't worry, quotes out of context will return with this week's quotes and next.

Jaguar. Doubtlessly, that word does not conjure the image of a toddling toe-headed baby girl with an intoxicatingly loving smile. Yet, that is her name. For the first few months of my friend’s daughter’s life, I refused to use her name. It was incongruous and, well, unfortunate. In no way did a word used to denote a stealthy, spotted, rainforest-dwelling cat represent the precious child I alternately called “Sunshine.” However, as months passed and she and I began to share a saga of relationship, a narrative of meaning attached itself to the term Jaguar so that her intoxicating smile is the first image I see when I hear the word. In short, the narrative of the last year and a half has produced inextricable meaning for her name.

With this said, her well-meaning parents cannot be let off the hook of imperfect name choosing. There is not much outside of the meaning making of her on-going story to exegete in her ill-begotten name. What, however, if her name was self-given? What if she happened to know herself better than any other being has ever known herself? What if out of that self-knowledge and out of a gracious and sincere desire to be known by those who would grow to love her, she named herself? And, what if that name remained as incongruous a name as “Jaguar”? Would we laugh at it? Would we wonder what she was thinking? Would we set it aside as some sort of a holy word assuming we cannot understand it? Would we attempt to understand it? Would we make it so holy that we could not call her by that name and begin to call her “Sunshine” in an effort to protect the holy word “Jaguar”? Would we use her name to connect her with the animal because we enjoy studying the animal – even though the animal may have nothing to do with what she meant in naming herself?

As doubtless as the word Jaguar does not conjure a picture of my precious friend and most beloved child, this seems a silly and near worthless blog entry. But, let’s wonder further. Is there one who knows ones’ self well enough to bestow upon the self the perfect name? If so, how have we treated that name?

What is Yahweh? What is “I am”? Do we jump from it to the seeming fruitful world of the Greek understanding of ontology? Do we hallow it then leave it alone? Do we run to calling Yahweh “God” until we have forgotten the name we’ve hallowed? Do we exegete the term, combing it for every ounce of self-revelation Yahweh provides in it? Do we meet it as though it were a invitation to relationship with an otherwise unknowable Creator, Re-Creator, Beloved, and Friend? Do we study it as an object for paper writing, or do we relate to it as an uncontainable, though knowable “Thou”?

Jaguar is an unfortunate name that I tend to toss aside, apart from the narrative that unfolds as a relational saga between my I and her Thou. However, God has given us God’s true name. To the one to whom much is given, much is required. What have we done and what will we do with the extravagant blessing of the True God’s True Name?




So…now would probably be a good time to push the book I just read: “The Named God and the Question of Being” by Stan Grenz. This book is a thick read, filled with historical explorations and proofs. It is not quick. But, it is immeasurably valuable in the pursuit to engage the name of God.