Sacred Name Movement

The Sacred Name Movement (SNM) is a movement within Adventism concerned with emphasizing the use of the Hebrew name of God, Yahweh.^[1] Influenced by Clarence Orvil Dodd, the movement considers the use of God's name as important as the Jewish festivals. SNM believers also generally observe many of the Old Testament laws and ceremonies such as the Seventh-day Sabbath, Torah festivals, and kashrut food laws.^[2] The movement also rejects the doctrine of the Trinity as unbiblical.^[3]

History

The Sacred Name Movement arose in the early 20th century out of the Church of God (Seventh Day) movement. The movement was influenced by Joseph Franklin Rutherford after he changed the name of the main branch of the Bible Student movement to Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931.^[4] C. O. Dodd, a member of the Church of God (Seventh Day) who began to keep the Jewish festivals (including Passover) in 1928, adopted sacred name doctrines in the late 1930s.^[5] To promote his views, Dodd began to publish The Faith magazine in 1937.^[5] American religious scholar J. Gordon Melton wrote, "No single force in spreading the Sacred Name movement was as important as The Faith magazine."^[6] Herbert W. Armstrong criticized the Sacred Name Movement, saying that it consisted of 'small', 'splintered' and 'divided' groups doctrinally. ^[7] Jacob O. Meyer, after becoming convinced of the importance of using the name Yahweh in the early 1960s, struggled to find others in the Sacred Name Movement who held views that were in line with his own.^[8]^[9] Agreeing with Armstrong's assessment of the movement, and wishing to maintain doctrinal agreement, Meyer established a radio ministry in 1966, and the Assemblies of Yahweh in 1969.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Sacred Name Movement

Below is a list of Sacred Name Movement groups:

Assembly of Yahweh (Michigan)
Shalom Assembly of Yahweh (Illinois)
Yahweh's Restoration Ministry (Missouri)
Assembly of Yahweh 7th Day (Texas)
Yahweh's Assembly in Messiah (Missouri)
Yahweh's Frystown Assembly (Pennsylvania)
Yahweh's Free Brethren (Pennsylvania)
Congregation of Yahweh (Florida)
The Congregation of YHWH (Texas)
Congregation of Yahweh Jerusalem (Jerusalem)
Yahweh's Assembly in Yahshua (Missouri)

Sacred Name Bibles

Angelo Traina, a disciple of Dodd, undertook the production of a Sacred Name edition of the Bible, publishing the Holy Name New Testament in 1950 and the Holy Name Bible in 1962, both based on the King James Version, but with some names and words changed to Hebraic forms, such as "God" to "Elohim", "LORD" to "Yahweh" and "Jesus" to "Yahshua".^[11] Other Sacred Name Bibles have since been produced, and most Sacred Name Movement denominations use a Sacred Name Bible.

References

↑ Melton 82-83.
↑ Frederickson 2016, p. 2003–2005.
↑ Clarke, Peter. Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. p. 543.
↑ Melton 83.
1 2 Hughey, Sam, A History of the True Church, The Reformed Reader, archived from the original on 19 February 2009, retrieved 7 January 2009
↑ Melton 476.
↑ Armstrong, Herbert. "The Plain Truth About the "Sacred Name"". hwalibrary.com. So far as my personal experience and contact with this Hebrew names movement went, that telephone conversation with Elder Dodd ended it — except that I continued receiving copies of his Faith magazine for some little time, and there was one other contact, mentioned later in this article. So far as I had contact or knowledge of it, the movement had virtually died Current research shows that there have, indeed, existed a number of small splinter groups advocating the so-called "sacred names." They are divided among themselves in many ways, especially as to what the Hebrew names are.
1 2 Meyer, Jacob (April 2015). "Beware of Imitations" (PDF). Assemblies of Yahweh. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 July 2026. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
1 2 "Statement of Doctrine". Assemblies of Yahweh. Retrieved 30 September 2026.
↑ Kurian, George Thomas; Lamport, Mark A., eds. (2016). The encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-4432-0.
↑ Mink, Gary (28 December 2001). "The Holy Name Bible". SacredName.com. Retrieved 4 April 2023.

Sources

Frederickson, Nathan (2016). "Sacred Name Movement". In Kurian, George Thomas; Lamport, Mark A. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States. Vol. 5. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 2003–2005. ISBN 9781442244320.
Melton, J. Gordon (1992). Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America. New York City: Garland Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8153-1140-9.

[1] Melton 82-83.

[FOOTNOTEFrederickson20162003–2005-2] Frederickson 2016, p. 2003–2005.

[3] Clarke, Peter. Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. p. 543.

[4] Melton 83.

[reformedreader-5] 1 2 Hughey, Sam, A History of the True Church, The Reformed Reader, archived from the original on 19 February 2009, retrieved 7 January 2009

[6] Melton 476.

[7] Armstrong, Herbert. "The Plain Truth About the "Sacred Name"". hwalibrary.com. So far as my personal experience and contact with this Hebrew names movement went, that telephone conversation with Elder Dodd ended it — except that I continued receiving copies of his Faith magazine for some little time, and there was one other contact, mentioned later in this article. So far as I had contact or knowledge of it, the movement had virtually died Current research shows that there have, indeed, existed a number of small splinter groups advocating the so-called "sacred names." They are divided among themselves in many ways, especially as to what the Hebrew names are.

[:1-8] 1 2 Meyer, Jacob (April 2015). "Beware of Imitations" (PDF). Assemblies of Yahweh. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 July 2026. Retrieved 29 September 2026.

[:2-9] 1 2 "Statement of Doctrine". Assemblies of Yahweh. Retrieved 30 September 2026.

[10] Kurian, George Thomas; Lamport, Mark A., eds. (2016). The encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-4432-0.

[11] Mink, Gary (28 December 2001). "The Holy Name Bible". SacredName.com. Retrieved 4 April 2023.

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