The Names of Jesus

by Elmer L. Towns

Book by Towns, Elmer L.

Genres: Religion

175 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Dr. Elmer Towns is a college and seminary professor, an author of popular and scholarly works (the editor of two encyclopedias), a popular seminar lecturer, and dedicated worker in Sunday school, and has developed over 20 resource packets for leadership education. He began teaching at Midwest Bible College, St. Louis, Missouri, for three years and was not satisfied with his textbooks so he began writing his own (he has published over 100 books listed in the Library of Congress, 7 listed in the Christian Booksellers Best Selling List; several becoming accepted as college textbooks. He is also the 1995 recipient of the coveted Gold Medallion Award awarded by the Christian Booksellers Association for writing the Book of the Year, i.e., The Names of the Holy Spirit.

He was President of Winnipeg Bible College for five years, leading it to receive American Accreditation and Provincial authority to offer degrees (1960-1965). He taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, in greater Chicago, Illinois, in the field of Religious Education and Evangelism (1965-1971).

He is co-founder of Liberty University, with Jerry Falwell, in 1971, and was the only full-time teacher in the first year of Liberty's existence. Today, the University has over 11,400 students on campus with 39,000 in the Distance Learning Program (now Liberty University Online), and he is the Dean of the School of Religion.

Dr. Towns has given theological lectures and taught intensive seminars at over 50 theological seminaries in America and abroad. He holds visiting professorship rank in five seminaries. He has written over 2,000 reference and/or popular articles and received six honorary doctoral degrees. Four doctoral dissertations have analyzed his contribution to religious education and evangelism.

His personal education includes a B.S. from Northwestern College in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a M.A. from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary also in Dallas, a MRE from Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and a D.Min. from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Reviews

[Patrick Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

The names of Jesus are many. Elmer breaks them down & brings them out with clarification and detail.
Name above all names, he is worthy of all praise. The Great I Am.

[RAD · Rating 1 out of 5]

What's In A Name?

Elmer Towns' The Names of Jesus purports to list over 700 names of Jesus found in the Bible. The problem with that is that many of these "names" are stated as matter-of-fact, with little if any explication.

The book is comprised of twelve chapters, each with different types of names (birth names, Godhead names, apocalyptic names, etc.). An Appendix, "The Names of Jesus Christ in Scripture," appears at the end of the book. There are, however, problems with this list. First is the issue of translation: names can mean different things in different languages, and even different translations in the same language (sadly, there does not seem to be a standard version that is used throughout; many books of this type will state up front that it relies on a specific translation, which provides context).

For example, one of the names in this alphabetical list is "Shiloh" which appears in the King James Version of Genesis 49:10. In the New International Version, however, "Shiloh" does not even appear, but is translated as "he to whom it belongs" (a footnote reads "or to whom tribute belongs; the meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain"). This can be problematic because it references a name whose meaning is uncertain, and it refers to a name that is only in certain English translations (with no mention of which ones).

One of the names in the list is "The Riddle" (Judges 14:14). Judges 14 describes Samson's marriage, and then a riddle he tells a group of men for a bet. Aside from its place in the Appendix, Towns references this name and verse once in the text:

When Samson sought to give the Philistines a riddle they could not resolve on their own, he said, "Out of the strong came forth sweetness" (Judges 14:14). Even today, it is uncommon to find strength and sweetness or beauty in the same thing or being. But Jesus manifested both strength and beauty. As we survey the many names and titles of Christ, we note some which emphasize His strength at the same time that others tend to emphasize his gentleness."

No effort is made to explicate why this is a "name" of Jesus.

Three names are drawn from Ruth 4:14-15: "The Kinsman" (v. 14), "A Nourisher of Thine Old Age" (v. 15), and "Restorer of Thy Life" (v. 15). Each of these appear alphabetically in the Appendix. There is no other reference to anything in the book of Ruth in any of the rest of the text. While these examples may be historical allegorical ones, there is no explication to that effect (or any other). Other names, primarily in the New Testament, are more clear in their referent. The book's goal appears to be a long list than justifiable one, and is more of an argument ad nauseam.

Nonfiction books are written for different audiences, and nontechnical ones need not provide copious notes. But any book claiming to be a sort of reference, as this one does, needs to provide some basis for its claims.