Publisher's Synopsis
We all have a name and give names to almost anything. But what's in a name? Surely it is just a convenient but trivial label to refer to things. Yet we need to think again. Suppose someone hears the name of a person they love. Does their name not convey something of that person's reality? Perhaps it stirs affections or memories. Other names might evoke fear and loathing. Certainly, a name is embedded in our personal and social lives. But that also allows the name to influence how we understand ourselves and our world. A name may even be 'constructed' by us, which then determines how different peoples see things. If this sounds far-fetched, consider the following. God speaks creation into being, and also names. Then Adam names the animals. Perhaps our naming mirrors in a secondary way the creative speaking of God. Giving a name may then be part of our own constructive creativity. None of that should surprise us. We see the flowering of the arts, literature, sciences and so much more. All this creativity achieves further order in a world which God has already ordered. It can be for God's glory and human flourishing, or tragedy and disaster - good and evil. If giving a name lies at the heart of our creativity, there's more to a name than we might at first suppose.
