Irrevocable: The Name of God and the Unity of the Christian Bible

Observing the Jewish law against saying the “Tetragrammaton, the traditionally unspoken personal proper name of God” (often transliterated as YHWH or JHVH) leads to a more inclusive understanding of Christianity, according to this nuanced study. Soulen (Abraham’s Promise), a theology professor at Emory University, contends that some Christians historically viewed the New Testament as establishing that Jewish people were “no longer God’s elect people” because Jesus’s teachings made Judaism obsolete. Soulen counters these arguments and suggests that Christians have, perhaps unknowingly, continued observance of the Jewish prohibition against saying the tetragrammaton “when reading Scripture, offering prayer, [and] celebrating the sacraments.” Unpacking Jesus’s speech throughout the Gospels, Soulen posits that Jesus refrained from saying the tetragrammaton with “unwavering scrupulosity” and asserts that Jesus’s tendency to resort to passive voice arises from the need to not say the name. Viewing the tetragrammaton as part of Christian practice, the author writes, leads to a more unifying perspective on the Bible by highlighting the continuities between Judaism and Christianity. Soulen’s reasoning is careful and complex, and while some readers may remain unconvinced, they will nonetheless appreciate the rigorous theology. This is a thought-provoking addition to the comparative literature on Judaism and Christianity. (Oct.)