Giving God A Name...

So, this past Wednesday Jessi and I were sitting in a "Form and Meaning" class when we were given an assignment that completely caught me off guard. "Give God a name," our teacher said. What? Give God a name? See, we had been talking in class about the difficulties of translating the Scripture to a tribal language. So, he proposed the task of giving God a name for a tribal group. We had the options of choosing b/w vernacular, the trade language, or choosing an entirely new name using the tribe's native tongue.

For example, say you move into a new tribal location. Option 1: You can stick with the name "God," but what will they understand this word? What meaning will they ascribe to it? Will they syncretize it with some of their old beliefs of God and ascribe immoral attributes to Him? Option 2: You could use that country's trade language word for God. An example of this would be using "Dios" in a Hispanic country. If you decide to do this, would it be possible that the tribal group would relate this word with other country groups who have claimed to worship "Dios" but had treated them wrongly in some way or another (as many tribal groups are often mistreated by governments.) Option 3: You could choose to create an entirely new name for God using the tribal language, but how well do you understand their language? Would you misrepresent the nature of God by the words you choose?

During our class, our group came up with many different pros and cons for each option. But in the end decided on option 3. Our teacher, who himself had been a tribal missionary for about 15 years, told us that all three have been used successfully and unsuccessfully. I have to tell you...I had a few beads of sweat pop up over making this decision, and this was just a class assignment, not the real thing. In the words of my main man Harry Carary "Holy Cow!" Seriously, I know this is the name of our mighty King, but it is also just one word of many in the Bible that we will hopefully soon be translating.

"Inadequate"...this doesn't even bein to describe how I'm feeling.