Philosophical Comment About Ancient Names & The Tetragrammaton

Some scholars suppose that 'the ineffable name of God" was not rediscovered by Hebrew scholars-Cabbalists until in 300 a.d. I will post a link to one modern pastor's research on the Tetragrammaton.

http://www.jesus-messiah.com/studies/yahweh-full-copy.html

This isn't a thread on the pro-con of faith for-itself. To a certain extent that is something like the partisan points in congress or whatever.

Dr. Reckart's article on the Indo-European origins of the word Yahweh is worth reading. There are of course numerous avenues of approach for words from proto-Indo-European/Ukrainian languages drifting into Sanskrit and Syriac terminology. Cultural transmissions of ideas about the origin of ideas of God and of the linguistic and cultural ideas about gods in the singular or plural are valuable for historical learning, yet ideas about God that one might have for-oneself are not solely dependent upon and historical-cultural transmission.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08329a.htm

One may consider God's attributes philosophically as Aquinas did. God and his relation to the universe or cosmos may be regarded with logical thought for some...many have.

Rosenberg in his biography of Abraham wrote that Elohim arose as a term for God in an area with a tradition of three pagan gods. Evidently some of the earlier writings and knowledge of the J and P writers about the Court of Solomon and Rehoboam were then lost and unknown to the Northern Court a couple hundred years later.

I recommend reading Rosenberg's excellent book. He retraces Abraham's route from Sumer up the Euphrates and over to Jerusalem and his meeting with the Jebbusites and Melchisedek. The cultural transmissions through history are valid enough to have historical value. There is an oral tradition in the Middle East and of song that is said to still be influential. Abraham's migration to Israel and development of a personal relationship with God evolved into what was in effect a new people culturally that believed in God.

One may associate numerous cultural references to comprehension of ancient times and points of religious interest. I have read history and philosophy simultaneously more or less, including ancient history for several decades. The depth in history leads me to expand understanding and not to approach ancient meanings and circumstances illogically as if the events-processes were math formula that might be proven or disproved necessarily. Also read items translated into English by scholars. I had only a little reading of Hebrew in Biblical languages.

Cultural memories of Martin Frobisher's explorations continued in the Bay from his early 16th century encounter with Inuit until recent times so far that locations of archeologically valuable sites were rediscovered with their tribal memory of the locations. Ancient Jewish history was also perpetuated until the development of the aleph-beth perhaps in the 15th century B.C.

When King David made Jerusalem his capital the accumulated scripts were probably brought together in his court and the J writer along with her knowledge of ancient Babylonian and Sumerian cultural traditions was able to put together the book of Genesis-perhaps adding the flood story to it from the Abrahamic heritage.

Obviously with the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls it was possible to compare the texts and textual inconsistencies of the scripture of different eras and there weren't many.

It is probably that the ancient Persian Gulf about 15,000 B.C. had a much lower sea level and that ancient cultures formed farther out in locations that today are under 200 feet of water. There was hence much cause for flood stories.

There is much scholarship on Bible history-so much that one may take one's course through making an image of the ancient world's history.

It seems that many non-believers would want to find some linguistic point, or an historical reconstruction as a point to dispute the existence of God. I have found ample reason historically to have faith in God that is reinforced by logical philosophical reasoning about the nature of God.

In order philosophically to consider the Universe as a contingent element within God's purposes it may be necessary to actual have a belief that God is actual, rather than dismissing that a priori.