Is 'God' a proper name?

Abstract

It has been assumed by many religious thinkers, theologians and philosophers, that the term 'God' is used as a proper name. From grammatical considerations alone, the term clearly is a proper name, and it might seem that any philosophical account of God-talk must proceed on the assumption that 'God' is being used as a proper name. But it will be argued in this thesis, that a number of attempts to explain and justify claims about the nature of God, which accept this assumption, involve rather serious difficulties. It will be further argued that good sense can be made of the use of 'God' in the Biblical tradition, even if it is not accepted that the term 'God' is used as a proper name.