What Is God's Name?

On December 15, 2015, Wheaton College, a prestigious Evangelical institution near Chicago, put a tenured faculty member on administrative a leave pending an investigation on alleged heresy charges. Larycia Hawkins, a political scientist, had put on a hijab (the Muslim kerchief that covers the hair but not the face) for the duration of Advent, as a sign of solidarity with Muslims feeling threatened by Islamophobia. In explaining her action, Hawkins said that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. (Oddly, for one who defined herself as an “orthodox Protestant”, Hawkins cited Pope Francis who had said the same.) I don’t think that the administration was greatly troubled by the kerchief (Wheaton, founded in 1860 by abolitionists, has a record of combining conservative theology with progressive causes); it was the statement about common worship that led to the charge that Hawkins had violated the declaration of faith that she had signed as a member of the faculty (a common practice at Evangelical colleges). That faith has a Biblical foundation in the speech made by the Apostle Peter before the High Priest of the Temple in Jerusalem (Acts 4:12). With reference to Jesus, Peter said: “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”