Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 10/08/2005 11:19, David P Donnelly wrote:

> ...
>
> I find it interesting that the Catholic Church, 
> which teaches that God's name is "Yahweh", ...
>  

Is this an official teaching of the Catholic Church? Or is it just that 
the Church has not objected to its scholars following the scholarly 
consensus here?

> ... quotes Clement of Alexandria as using the spelling "Jaou" [i.e. Iaou]
> (in Stromata Book V. in Migne's P.G. col 60).
>
> Clement of Alexandria is a canonized Roman Catholic saint,
> yet they don't quote him as writing "Iaoue" in Stromata Book V. Chapter
> 6:34.
>  

Perhaps because the textual situation is uncertain. As I understand it, 
different manuscripts of Clement have IAOU, IAOUE and IAOUAI.

> The Catholic Church appears to base its belief that God's name is
> "Yahweh" 
> on the Samaritan name "Jabe" alone. 
>  

Not necessarily. Gesenius had other reasons for preferring this form, 
including the possible derivation from the verb form. Anyway, I don't 
think the Catholic Encyclopedia should be taken as official teaching of 
the Catholic Church, but rather as the teaching of individual Catholic 
scholars which has been found objectionable by the Church.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/