The Unfolding Mystery of the Divine Name: The God of Sinai in Our Midst
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
When Moses asked God to show him his glory, the Lord passed before him and proclaimed his name. And from that name cascaded a promise of grace and love, compassion and faithfulness, forgiveness and slowness to anger. The story is told in Exodus 34:5-7, but the resonant name reverberates through the corridors of Scripture.
Michael Knowles teases out the rich dimensions and implications of this name by listening carefully to Exodus 34 and its biblical echoes. He particularly tunes his ear to the spiritual meditations of later sages. In tracing the unfolding mystery of the divine name throughout the span of Israel’s story, he finds it startlingly resolved in the God of Sinai becoming present in our midst.
The manifold name of God has long captivated those who trace their spiritual ancestry to Abraham, whether they are Jewish, Christian or Muslim. This book brings this spiritual quest into dialogue with Scripture and tradition, and invites us to experience this God of the eternal name.
- Examines the story of Exodus 34 and its echoes throughout Scripture
- Explores the use and implications of the divine name in the Bible
- Traces divine attributes through a variety of texts and biblical traditions
- Introduction: How Many Names Does God Have?
- Names and the Naming of God
- A God Compassionate and Gracious
- A God Slow to Anger
- A God of Steadfast Love
- A God Trustworthy and True
- A God of Forgiveness and Justice
- Conclusions—God in Our Midst
How marvelous it would be if Christians started believing that God is as Scripture portrays him, and as Dr. Knowles expounds its portrayal with such a wideness of vision and breadth of insight.
—John Goldingay, David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary
A fascinating and erudite study. Don’t be misled by the title: Knowles’s goal is to get at the very heart of the Bible's presentation of God through a careful survey of selected texts. His work will surely be of interest to scholars and lay readers alike.
—James Kugel, author, The Bible As It Was
Michael Knowles has organized his theological reflection around the self-disclosure of God in Exodus 34, a wise decision indeed. The result of his close textual study is a full, free-ranging theological exposition that probes not only the biblical text but the use to which the text has been variously put in the Christian tradition. The book teems with fresh insight and will reward a careful reading.
—Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary
- Title: The Unfolding Mystery of the Divine Name: The God of Sinai in Our Midst
- Author: Michael P. Knowles
- Publisher: IVP
- Publication Date: 2012
- Pages: 254
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Biblical Studies