“Who is God?”
To begin, I’ll describe God as he describes himself. When he appeared to Moses in the flames of the bush, Moses asks what to call him, to which God responded “I am who I am” and proceeds to say “say this to the people of Israel ‘I Am has sent me to you.'” He later clarifies saying he is the God of Moses’s father, and his father’s father, and so on. In this way, God makes it clear that he is responsible for the existence of Moses, which can be extended to mean all the people on Earth, as he is the original creator and God of all those who descended from the original people.
It is also worth bringing up other instances of naming in the Bible. Adam was responsible for naming the other animals and the parents were responsible for naming their children, thereby establishing a dominion and a relationship with them. If you look at a name like this, then humans have no business assigning a name for God, as he is the one with dominion over us as our creator. He is the one who should be naming us, as he did with Adam and Eve. This holds true with God’s role as God the Father. This notion is also extended by looking at Genesis. When Jacob asks what God’s name is, he simply responds by asking “Why is it that you ask my name?” This again emphasizes the great mystery of God. Perhaps God doesn’t have a concrete name, but he is rather a transforming being symbolizing hope. Perhaps God is keeping his name a secret. Nobody knows. The mystery of God encourages us to continue to seek God and so that we may discover more and question more. Much like Jacob wrestled with God and became a better person for it, we should also seek out God so that we may know more about him.
Theology 
One of the aspects that I enjoyed about your response was the idea that maybe humans are not worthy or not entitled to giving God a name. You discuss how God offered Adam the opportunity to name all the animals and plants of creation but how it is not the human person’s place to give God a name, “Humans have no business assigning a name for God, as he is the one with dominion over us as our creator.” Naming something means to enter into relationship with that thing, and although we enter into relationship with God through prayer, it is ultimately He who initiates it.
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Blake, I think your acknowledgment of other instances of naming in the Bible to make the conclusion that humans are not capable or knowledgeable enough to assign a name for a God that is responsible for assigning a name to us is a really interesting claim. I think your postulation that God is keeping his name a secret could hold some validity, but I think God more or less wants to be encountered and revealed when we need it the most, not just when asked. The beauty of the mystery of God lies in the fact that everyone encounters God in a different way at different points in their life, similar to the point you make in your concluding sentence.
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I appreciate the support you provide for the statement that Moses is sent by God because God is the God of his ancestors. You are right that God can’t be named, especially by a human, because that would mean establishing dominion. However, a relationship must be established between God and his people, meaning that they must have a way to call him. The statement that God always calls us, even in prayer, is an interesting one because it implies that we have no way to call upon God in our need. However, He, being omniscient, knows when we are in need.
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I enjoyed your commentary on how G-d utilizes naming as a tool to assert his sovereignty and establish a relationship with His people. As you stated, the naming done in creation established a relationship and authority between the one who names and the named. The underlying meaning behind a name and how it comes about certainly helps demystify the nature of G-d. However, how do we understand what “I am” means? What does it mean? It seems circular to say when one asks who you are, you respond “I am who I am”, providing no clarity to the person asking the question. Was this intentional by G-d? Is there something we are missing?
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Brendan, I like the part of your response where you bring up the point that humans shouldn’t have the authority to give God a name, because he is the one who has dominion over us as our creator. Another interesting topic that you discussed is when you talk about the great mystery of god and that perhaps he doesn’t have a concrete name, but instead symbolizes hope.
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