Evangelizing Metaphysics

The translation of the name Yahweh into Greek as ho on, “the One who is,” has been seen as a Platonizing or Hellenizing move. Sean McDonough (YHWH at Patmos, 194) demurs:

“God’s declaration of his name, ‘I am who I am,’ served as a natural bridge between Jewish and Greek thinking. The rabbis were willing to explain this in a Greek fashion at times, that God was and is and will be in the future. This is admitted a minor borrowing, but a borrowing nonetheless. What is remarkable is that even when Jewish writers made a more significant gesture toward Hellenism, as in the use of ho on, they usually remained firmly rooted in Israel’s story. If anything, philosophical concepts were eclipsed by the biblical narrative. Rather than speaking of the ‘hellenization’ of YHWH, it might be better to speak of the ‘judaization’ of to on.”