Is there power in a name? The Name Quest

Rumpelstiltskin is defeated when his name is guessed. Voldemort, Harry Potter’s nemesis, is referred to as “He who must not be named.” Only those with courage refer to him as Voldemort. Ella loses heart when her sisters bestow the name Cinderella on her, and regains herself when she uses the name to redefine who she is.

Names evoke feelings and memories. They give identity to an individual and a sense of belonging to a group. They bring forth both understanding and assumptions. As parents we spend months selecting and crafting the perfect names for our children.

We run them through a gamete of possible nicknames, remembering fondly and with fear pet names bestowed on us. We search out meanings hoping to shape the course of our child’s life for good. We list our favorite literary characters and family members who have brought joy to our life until finally we find that one perfect name our child will carry with them the rest of their life. Their name is reflection on them as well as on us, their parents, and all the hopes and anticipation we place on their lives.

Growing up my name was manipulated, shortened, and rhymed to provide entertainment for others. The p was purposely left out, it was lengthened to rhyme with doppie and it was added to verse to declare my love for smoking “dope with the pope on a rope.” In middle school I attempted to have others refer to me by my middle name, but Hope was just to easy to rhyme with and Nadine never caught on. I love my name. It has been a call on my life. When I have struggled through moments of depression, frustration, and lack of faith it has reminded me of who I am. It has kept me choosing hope and reminded me of my parents joy and faith at my birth.

There is power in a name.

It should come as no surprise that the study of God’s names would bring us closer to an understanding of him and those who have interacted with him in scripture.

BookCrash sent me The Name Quest: Explore the Names of God to Grow in Faith and Get to Know Him Better (Morgan James Faith) in exchange for an honest review.

John Avery uses stories and research taken from 15 years of study to provide this wonderful resource in down to earth language. My favorite was his illustration of brush fires. Sharing of his own stay on St. Croix and the danger of brush fires, he writes “We are instinctively aware of our vulnerability to raging wildfires. We know that the consuming flames are incompatible with our fragile selves. We understand that God’s holiness and our fallen-ness don’t mix.”

Each one of God’s names opens up a greater understanding, terror, and beauty to who God is. His names are aspects of himself he has chosen to reveal to us and demonstrations of who the authors of scripture understood him to be. There is power in a name. There is beauty and fear. There is creation and destruction, destiny and love all wrapped up in one word.

We struggle as humans to see God. We often box him in to our dim version of who we believe he should be (I know I have, you can read about it here in Losing Faith). The power in a name is that it opens our minds to see more of who he is.

My love for books has come with a strict one book in one book out policy. Every book I review I pass off to a friend to make room for the next one. I’m breaking my rule with this book. It will remain on my shelf as a go to for future study, illustrations, and a reminder of the many aspects and names of God.

This book is available from Family Christian and Amazon.