What is God's Name: Reflections on the 'Faces' of God

Everybody has a name. Everybody's name distinguishes him or her from everybody else. The naming of a new baby is an important event. In some cultures the baby is not named until "it" manifests its personality so that the name fits.

What about God? The name "God" is simply an ancient Teutonic word of which the primary meaning is: "What is worshipped with sacrifice." It refers to a being who is supreme. But what is God's name?

That's a good question and Moses asked it, too. When the voice in the burning bush called him by name, told him to take off his shoes because the place was holy and then made him a proposition he couldn't re­fuse, Moses had a decidedly strong impression the voice belonged to Someone, like maybe the One who called Noah to build an arc! So Moses listened! He was frightened because the voice told him to go back to Egypt and lead enslaved Hebrews to freedom. Moses had killed an Egyptian who was abusing a Hebrew and he feared he had been seen and would be punished. But he could tell the voice was not going to let him off.

So Moses dared to pose the question in a roundabout manner: "Who shall I say sent me?" Then came the amazing answer: "Tell them 'I AM' sent you."

Silence!

The French philosopher, Descartes, is famed for his dictum: "I think. Therefore, I am". But with God it is simply: I AM. All else follows. All else is. How many times a day do we say: "I am"? I am going. I am hungry. I am glad. But all our “I am’s” are a subset of the great I AM, which are born of and nestle in the one I AM. Is this not a deep consolation?

By Mary Alban Bouchard CSJ
Photo by Mary Doreen Smith CSJ