More on the importance of names

While we were talking about the importance of True Names in class last week -- an important theme in Kelly Link and in Neil Gaiman -- we might have mentioned the Sacred Name Movement in Christianity: the various churches that emphasize the authority of the Old Testament, the observance of Jewish festivals and the correct name of the divine.

This is on my mind because while driving through Bethel, Pa., yesterday, I passed radio station WMLK, the broadcasting arm of the Assemblies of Yahweh. This church's Statement of Doctrine reads, in part:

We affirm that it is necessary and most important to our salvation that we accept the revealed, personal Name of our Heavenly Father YAHWEH and the Name of His Son, our Savior YAHSHUA the MESSIAH. We affirm also that the most accurate transliteration of these Names from the Hebrew into the English is by the spellings employed above, Exodus 3:14-15; Psalm 68:4; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 42:8; Isaiah 52:6; Acts 4:12.

This is an ancient debate, but the Assemblies of Yahweh is, as churches go, brand new. It was founded by Jacob O. Meyer in 1969, the year men first walked on the Moon.