Question: God in Fantasy

[j2starshine]

OK, i've got a question and I would like your guys' input...

In the world I've created there are about seven races and seven different languages. There is a god and each race has its own name for this god. Would it be confusing to the reader if the characters refered to this god according to their nationality/culture/language? For example: Spanish=Dios, Nyanja=Mulungu, etc or should I stick with one name throughout the entire book?

the different names focus on different aspects/attributes of God.

Thanks

~J2

[beckyminor]

Feb 19, 2010 13:47:15 GMT -5 j2starshine said:

the different names focus on different aspects/attributes of God.

I like this concept...it reminds me of the way the OT has lots of different ways to refer to God, Jehovah-jireh (the Lord will provide)
Jehovah-rapha (the Lord who heals), Jehovah-nissi (the Lord our banner), Jehovah-Shalom (the Lord our peace), Jehovah-ra-ah (the Lord my shepherd), Jehovah-tsidkenu (the Lord our righteousness), Jehovah-shammad (the Lord is present), Jehovah-Elohim (the Lord God) etc., etc., etc...

As I look at this list (thank you google search), I get an idea. Is there any way that there could be a common root that all the cultures use? (I know that's not a realistic reflection of how our own world works, but I'm just thinking out loud here.) But then you could alter that root with each culture's particular way of referring to the one god, and perhaps that would help your reader draw the conclusion that they are all referring to the same god and not some other deity. Maybe that's a half baked idea.

But as for your question...everyone having a different name for the same god...I think that's realistic, but potentially confusing. Another way you might take a stab at it is when you introduce a new culture referring to god, you could use some sort of common title that everyone uses. Culture A says, "I'll offer a prayer to the Maker, Shahanna..." or whatever.

Just my couple of thoughts. I personally took the easy way out and have everybody call the god of my universe the same name.

[j2starshine]

Thank you for comment. It has given me something to think about. Perhaps using the common tongue and altering the name. Jesus is: Yeshua in Hebrew, Yesu in Nyanja (my husband's language) & Jesus with the accent over u in Spanish...

I think it best not to confuse the reader, but it's hard to accept when my mermaid is praying in her language she wouldn't refer to God in the common tongue, but the name she calls God. Hmmm....


And the common tongue name for God is four words strung together with hyphons because you really can't translate His name without leaving some part out so I've left it ambigous and all encompassing.

I do have an ancient language that the guardians speak and is foundational to the world. I'll probably end up using it for the name of God if it is deemed too confusing. Anyways, I really appreciate your thoughts. Thanks :-)

[Christian Soldier]

You could also have a conversation between the characters where they discuss their beliefs and realize that they are similar. ie "Why Yes! We believe much the same, but we call that festival the _______ of _______ , and we call our god ________"

[journeyman]

I agree with beckyminor, using the different aspects of God as names is a wonderful idea, especially since each of your races will undoubtedly base those names on how God is perceived through their own worldview.

Regarding languages, in Black Flag, Black Ship I've used snippets of European languages. I don't know if this dialog will survive the editor's pen as I duplicate the dialog in English. On the other hand, I think that the languages that you've created may stand a better chance of surviving an editor's red ink.

[robynnt]

Readers can't know everything immediately and different names in different cultures are more realistic. I say, go for it. I have a world where God has different names according to the culture, although, to be fair, several of the names have the same root word.
Just make sure you don't get confused, and the reader will be fine. Besides, it gives you something to talk about at book signings.

[j2starshine]

Thanks guys for all ya'lls input...i think i will leave as is. the characters have discussed it a few times and hopefully that will connect the dots for the reader. If an editor doesn't like it, bring on the red ink! I can resort to using one name. Thanks

happy writing!

[waldenwriter]

I think that using different names for God is fine. In my Walden stories, I use the name Chaimvin for the God figure of Walden. The name is a combination of the Hebrew word Chaim and the ending -vin, which when put together mean "Friend of Life." In my current novel, I made up a sort of Andromedean name for Jesus, Krintan, which at the moment means "crucified one" but might change in meaning.

The many languages of this world, both old and current, provide many possibilities for names for God. Also, as Becky mentioned, there are many names for God in the Bible. I personally like El-Elyon, which means "God Most High." I like the sound of it.

I've found lots of names for things by using a Bible concordance that includes Hebrew and Greek dictionaries, if that helps.

[j2starshine]

Thanks waldenwriter, when I first began writing this story I had chosen El Elyon, but since then have changed it especially knowing and loving Partick Carmen's The Land Of Elyon series. On a side note, I love the name Adonai. I like how you created names out of Hebrew. some of the names in my book when I started out were influence by the concordance and google language translation tools :-) after I've created my own languages, I have wondered if I should change the names (most are land formations) or not. I guess that's what happens when your one book morphs into three and as I have learned about the craft.

Thanks

~J2

[Divides the Waters]

I think that it is a great idea. The only thing I would caution is to be realistic in your portrayal of Him across different cultures. He will reveal Himself to many and never be inconsistent, but there will still be cultural aspects of worship and expectations that will differ from people to people.

[newburydave]

Hi, just wandered over from the prayer requests forum.

It seems to me that in Sf names are not important. Hey we're changing the nature of the whole universe to create our fantasy story worlds, aren't we?

IMHO God is as God does. The thematic elements that we wrap around Him, in his manifestations, are all that matters. Sometimes I feel that a bit of reversal is good just to get people thinking.

After all don't we believe that it's not an outward family or affiliation that saves us? It's the heart change and the Spirit that lives in and controls our hearts that makes us His children. Relation to Jesus and action, not labels, are what matters.

One of my story worlds has a race of red dragons as the chief allies of the God Fearing clans of mankind. One of their clan founders chose the name Mehpisto for the clan name of his family. He had a reason. You see he had fallen and been infested by a Darkest One (demon) in his pursuit of mere material good. After he was exorcised he chose the name of his infesting demon to remind his children of the dangers of their clan calling (they were the chief scientists of their world).

I borrowed the theme from the medieval Faust stories (loosely). Reading the good guys identified as part of the Mephisto clan has made more that one person look closer and maybe think a bit deeper.

Well that's my hope anyway. Maybe I've experienced the lash of churchy, stereotypical thinking too much, but since we're doing Sf why not follow the example of our Savior. He kicked the walls out of the temple, where men had God safely locked away from view, to force us to look at the realities of who He is and who we are.

Seems to me we should be doing something similar with our wild flights of inspiration. It is Sf after all.

Since we live by His glory, let's burn hot for His Glory. Maybe the world will come around to watch us burn and meet Him.

[j2starshine]

Thanks, dividesthewaters and newburydave, I appreciate your comments and has given me some things to think about. i definitely don't want to portray anything about Scripture or God that is incorrect according to Scripture, but I do agree we need to think outside of the box.

thanks

~j2

[waldenwriter]

Mar 4, 2010 6:02:40 GMT -5 j2starshine said:

Thanks waldenwriter, when I first began writing this story I had chosen El Elyon, but since then have changed it especially knowing and loving Partick Carmen's The Land Of Elyon series. On a side note, I love the name Adonai.

You're welcome. Yeah, that's something to consider. There is a character named Elyon in an animated series I like called W.I.T.C.H., a series about five girls who protect a Veil between different worlds - specifically between the world of Metamoor/Meridian (in the show it's Meridian, in the comics the show is based on, it's Metamoor, and Meridian is a city within Metamoor) and Earth. Elyon is the true heir to the throne of Metamoor/Meridian, the world the bad guy of the first season, Prince Phobos, is also from (in fact, Elyon is his sister, but she was carried off to Earth by a servant for her safety).

I do like the name still though. Adonai is a good name too. I also like El Shaddai (God Almighty), maybe because of the Amy Grant song of the same name.

Mar 4, 2010 6:02:40 GMT -5 j2starshine said:

I like how you created names out of Hebrew. some of the names in my book when I started out were influence by the concordance and google language translation tools :-) after I've created my own languages, I have wondered if I should change the names (most are land formations) or not. I guess that's what happens when your one book morphs into three and as I have learned about the craft.

Thanks

~J2

I'm not sure what inspired me to use Hebrew and Greek concordance words as a basis. Maybe it was that I realized that as crazy as I am about words and language, I'm nowhere near the kind of linguist needed to create a whole language like Tolkien did, though I do create words here and there as I need them.

I used Hebrew and Greek words for place names, and pretty much just made up words for the other things - and this is for a high fantasy series (my Walden series) mind you. I did use Hebrew once in my current novel - the villain is known as Maror Zimmah, literally the "Bitter Thing of Evil Intent."

Once you create your own languages, I agree that you may want to change the terms to ones fitting the languages. That's fine. Just consider what things mean and not only their aural qualities (how they sound). Tolkien did a good job with making Quenya both sound awesome and have great word meanings.

Yeah I hear you. I'm still learning craft even though I've been writing seriously since I was 11 (and I'm 25 now). Mainly that's been because I've been very on-and-off about it. But I'm sure it gets easier as you learn more craft. And as for one novel becoming three - that's what happened with Lord of the Rings; Tolkien wrote it as one big huge story, and the publishers decided to separate it into three books. I almost wonder if people would've read it as much if they hadn't done that.

[j2starshine]

Yeah, Waldenwriter, if they hadn't split Lord of the Rings into three books, people might have been daunted at the size of the book, not to mention the heftiness of such a book. I'm still torn on whether or not I should change the names, since I've been calling these places the same thing for the past six years. But I definitely have taken into the consideration of the meaning as well as the aural quality. If i changed the names, I wouldn't change the meaning. It would for the purpose of being more true to the people who live in the area, but perhaps I am stressing over it for nothing as long as the readers can read it and get the meaning that's what matters.

Thanks for your reply

[ryain]

In my stories I usually only have one Name for God. But in one story I have many different religions with one true religion. My name for God, Yao`ia, was influenced by the Hebrew way of spelling God's name with no vowels. So I reversed it. I like the idea of having different names based on the different aspects of God. That could open up for some interesting conversations among characters.