Customer Reviews

The Divine Name Controversy

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God has a name. So why is it that many English Bible translations have replaced it with the title "LORD" in all capital letters? Why is it that the King James Version has the name standing by itself only 4 times? On the other hand, why do some versions like the American Standard Version include it over 6,000 times in the OT? And why do even fewer contain it in the NT? And is the correct pronounciation of the divine name Jehovah or Yahweh? Dr. Firpo W. Carr, a recent Bible scholar who has earned his PHd in biblical languages, discusses and answers those and other questions.He is well qualified to do so; he has examined several Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible, including the Lenigrad Codex. He was also the first to take photographs of the Dead Sea scrolls which were later saved in electronic format

The Author has brought to light a very important topic and therefore deserves the purview of all those having an interest in the Bible. The previous negative comment suggested that Dr. Carr does not have the qualifications to write such a book. However, at the outset, I did not see any place in the book preview nor in the front or back cover, where Dr. Firpo W. Carr claims to have a degree in "biblical languages" as the other commentator said. Obviously Dr. Carr has some type of doctorate degree. In my humble opinion this does not disqualify him from writing a much needed book that brings to light the divine name controversy. After all, Jesus own apostles were men "unlettered and ordinary" except perhaps the apostle Paul and maybe Luke. Jesus himself did not have a degree, but was rather a "carpenter's son". However Dr. Carr does claim to be a Bible scholar. By definition a scholar "has a sharp focus that delimits the area of inquiry in which s/he works. He works to develop a complex, depth and sophisticated understanding of any of the topics of study". Therefore anyone who applies himself and devotes his life to a particular study can become a scholar.

Rather than losing the focus of this discussion to such matters, more importantly, even though there may be some inaccuracies, the topic itself is hugely important. If you were the author of a book and the publisher left out your name from the credits and merely quoted you as the "Writer" this would be an outrage. On the other hand, to leave out the author's name from the Bible in more than 7000 locations, as many Bible publishers do, this is an abomination! Therefore Dr. Carr brings up a long overdue subject which is customarily shrouded with prejudice and conspiracy. Dr. Carr deserves the credit for bringing this issue into the lime-light. Other honest individuals are also bringing this to light, such as the producers of the new Divine Name King James Bible. Therefore, as a library director, I will go ahead and order this book for my patrons.

The "May 15, 1997" posting regarding "Dr. Firpo W. Carr, a recent Bible scholar who has earned his PHd in biblical languages" is misleading since Carr has never held any degrees in biblical languages. Additionally, because Carr viewed and supposedly photographed "several Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible, including the Leni[n]grad Codex" that did not make him "well qualified" to write "The Divine Name Controversy, Vol. 1." In fact, that volume is riddled with foolish blunders that have not been revised for many years. Neither was Carr "the first to take photographs of the Dead Sea Scrolls which were later saved in electronic format." It is not worth purchasing a copy of the DNC 1. The most reliable information on God's sacred name can be found in Bible scholar Gerard Gertoux's 2002 study.