Naming God

Naming God

Generations of Christians, Janet Soskice demonstrates, once knew God and Christ by hundreds of remarkable names. These included the appellations 'Messiah', 'Emmanuel', 'Alpha', 'Omega', 'Eternal', 'All-Powerful', 'Lamb', 'Lion', 'Goat', 'One', 'Word', 'Serpent' and 'Bridegroom'. In her much-anticipated new book, Soskice argues that contemporary understandings of divinity could be transformed by a return to a venerable analogical tradition of divine naming. These ancient titles – drawn from scripture – were chanted and sung, crafted and invoked (in polyphony and plainsong) as they were woven into the worship of the faithful. However, during the sixteenth century Descartes moved from 'naming' to 'defining' God via a series of metaphysical attributes. This made God a thing among things: a being amongst beings. For the author, reclaiming divine naming is not only overdue. It can also re-energize the relationship between philosophy and religious tradition. This path-breaking book shows just how rich and revolutionary such reclamation might be.

Naming God

"This volume, like other Building Bridges Seminar books, presents pairs of lectures by Christians and Muslims which introduce texts for dialogical study, plus the actual text-excerpts themselves. This series is unique in that each volume goes far beyond mere reporting on a dialogical seminar; rather, each provides guidance and materials for constructing a similar dialogical experience on a particular topic. Naming God brings fresh perspective to a topic of great interest in Christian-Muslim understanding. In a sense, Naming God continues the conversation begun in the Seminar's earlier publication, Monotheism and Its Complexities (2018), and employs the same distinctive approach to dialogical close reading a scripture and other source material. The book is vital reading for students (undergraduate and graduate) and congregational leaders"--

Naming God