YHWH'S personal identity – a philosophical perspective

Abstract

In this article a new riddle for Hebrew Bible theologians is introduced. It concerns the philosophical problem of YHWH's personal identity within the world in the text. Given theological pluralism in the deity's profile, what did being YHWH as depicted from one text to the next, necessarily consist in? In view of the seeming persistence of YHWH's identity over time, the question that is asked and answered is whether it is possible to offer criteria that will specify the necessary and sufficient conditions for being YHWH across all actual worlds in the text.