Naming names: Kristin Swenson looks at Biblical titles for God.

‘At the very beginning of the Bible, we read of a God unlimited by sex, both male and female simultaneously.’

by Kristin Swenson 7th May 2021

‘Gosh’, we’re taught to say, instead of ‘God’. Or ‘Golly’ or ‘Jeez’. The impulse comes from prohibitions against blaspheming the name of God, ‘taking the name of the LORD in vain’, or otherwise misusing it. In the ancient world out of which the biblical texts came, people would invoke deities as witnesses to binding promises. The divine name was a powerful thing. To use it in a false oath was a grave offence. But just what is that name, biblically speaking?