Names of God
Correlation between various theories and interpretation of the name of "the one 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.
Other elements of religious practice may be shared, especially when communities of different faiths are living in close proximity (for example, the use of Khuda or Prabhu within the Indian Christian community) but usage of the names themselves mostly remains within the domain of a particular religion, or even may help define one's religious belief according to practice, as in the case of the recitation of names of God (such as the japa).
It is believed that, in ancient times, the sages communicated the pronunciation only once every seven years;[10] this system was challenged by more recent movements.
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.
The root Eloah (אלה) is used in poetry and late prose (e.g., the Book of Job) and ending with the masculine plural suffix -im ים creating a word like ba`alim ('owners') and adonim ('lords', 'masters') that may also indicate a singular identity.
The resulting substitute made from semivowels and glottals, known as the tetragrammaton, is not ordinarily permitted to be pronounced aloud, even in prayer.
Almost all Orthodox Jews avoid using either Yahweh or Jehovah altogether on the basis that the actual pronunciation of the tetragrammaton has been lost in antiquity.
Mark Sameth argues that Yahweh was a pseudo name for a dual-gendered deity, the four letters of that name being cryptogram which the priests of ancient Israel read in reverse as huhi, 'he–she', as earlier theorized by Guillaume Postel (16th century) and Michelangelo Lanci [it] (19th century).
[14][15][16][17] In Christianity, the Old Testament reveals YHWH (יהוה; often vocalized with vowels as "Yahweh" or "Jehovah") as the personal name of God.
[18][19] References, such as The New Encyclopædia Britannica, affirm the vocalization "Yahweh" by offering additional specifics to its (Christian) reconstruction out of Greek sources: Early Christian writers, such as Clement of Alexandria in the 2nd century, had used a form like Yahweh, and claim that this pronunciation of the tetragrammaton was never really lost.
[20] It appears in certain translations of the Bible, such as the Revised Standard Version, and is used by Christians in the interjection Hallelujah, meaning "Praise Jah", which is used to give Jahweh glory.
"[24] Jesus (Iesus, Yeshua[25]) was a common alternative form of the name יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yehoshua 'Joshua') in later books of the Hebrew Bible and among Jews of the Second Temple period.
Khristos is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah; 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—also, in German, the word Heiland is sometimes used as reference to Jesus, e.g., in church chorals).
In the Book of Revelation in the Christian New Testament, God, that is, Jesus is quoted as saying "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End".
[18] Abba ('father' in Hebrew) is a common term used for the creator within Christianity because it was a title Jesus used to refer to God the Father.
The Book of Mormon ends with "to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the eternal Judge of both the quick and dead.
He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, the Sovereign, the Pure, the Perfection, the Bestower of Faith, the Overseer, the Exalted in Might, the Compeller, the Superior.
(Translation of Qur'an: Chapter 59, Verses 22-24)In Tasawwuf, often characterised as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam, Hu, Huwa (depends on placement in the sentence), or Parvardigar in Persian are used as names of God.
The word explicitly appears in many verses of the Quran: "La ilaha illa Hu"The scriptures of the Baháʼí Faith often refer to God by various titles and attributes, such as Almighty, All-Possessing, All-Powerful, All-Wise, Incomparable, Gracious, Helper, All-Glorious, and Omniscient.
[40] Apart from these names, God is addressed in the local language, for example Ishwar in Hindi, Dieu in French and Dios in Spanish.
A divine epithet expresses specific traits, aspects, or domains of a god, or applies a common noun to them.
[46] Rahmouni says a locative name is ʔil yṯb bʕṯtrt in KTU 1.108, 2 meaning "The god who sits (enthroned) in ʕAṯtartu.
Binomial names can be found in "bound forms" like Bethel's Anat-Bethel, Ashim-Bethel, "and Herem-Bethel from the archives of Elephantine.
According to Jain doctrine, the universe and its constituents (soul, matter, space, time, and principles of motion) have always existed.
Jains believe that to attain enlightenment and ultimately liberation from all karmic bonding, one must practice the ethical principles not only in thought, but also in words (speech) and action.
Jainism considers the devīs and devas to be souls who dwell in heavens owing to meritorious deeds in their past lives.
"[53] The word Allah (Punjabi: ਅਲਹੁ) is used 12 times in the Guru Granth Sahib (primary religious scripture) by Sheikh Farid.
The Igbo people believe that all things come from Chukwu, who brings the rain necessary for plants to grow and controls everything on Earth and the spiritual world.
They believe Chukwu to be an undefinable omnipotent and omnipresent supreme deity that encompasses everything in space and time itself.
[58] Olodumare is aloof; he is not directly involved in earthly matters and lets other Yoruba deities (orisha), who are his sons and daughters, answer human concerns through divination, possession, sacrifice and more.
