Hey Bluegoat & Archenland Knight!
I'll repsond to both of you in turn:
Bluegoat,
The Catholic Church, like Judaism, regards the
Yod He Vav He as the "proper name" of God (as the letter to the Bishops' Conference I linked above puts it.) Actually, I kinda assumed that all Christian churches so regarded it--but perhaps that's not the case. (I know much less about Protestantism.)
In the Hebrew Bible, there are many different ways of referring to God. The
Yod He Vav He (as AK points out, you'll see it rendered in English as YHWH, but I'll replace it with HaShem from now on) is possibly the most famous and Jews and Catholics regard it as His 'real' name. But there are other ways of referring to Him.
God reveals Himself to Moses not only as HaShem but as
Ehyeh asher Ehyeh, which is probably best translated as "I will be what I will be." (I don't know where the common English translation--I am that I am--comes from.)
El simply means God. Not the Name, just God.
El Shaddai is a somewhat obscure reference--
El, again, means God, but
Shaddai is difficult to translate. It may be a place-name, or it may have the connotation of 'Mighty' or 'Overpowering.' It may have something to do with mountains...and some people even think it's derived from a word for, believe it or not, breasts.
There's
Elohenu, which means 'our God.' And there's
Elohim, which is generally used as a singular to mean 'God' but is technically a plural word. (It's used in the plural sense in Exodus 20:3--You shall have no other gods--
elohim--before me.) There are, however, other examples of a plural word being used as a singular in Hebrew.
There are many more ways besides these. All these different ways of referring to God have different connotations. (And they have great significance to scholars who get involved with all the who-wrote-what-when debates.)
And, unfortunately, you lose most of this in translation. I know most of us aren't scholars and don't have the time to learn Biblical Hebrew--but we should, if we take the Hebrew Scriptures seriously. And if we can't do that, we should at least get a translation with mounds of footnotes that gives in-depth information on the Hebrew.
(I know you Christians have it harder, of course, since you should be learning Koine Greek too in order to read the New Testament!)
However, I will say this. Biblical Hebrew is not as hard as most of us imagine. How easy it is depends on how easily we pick up languages...but either way it's not rocket science.
Archenland Knight,
I agree that Jews probably pronounced the Name more freely at one point--but probably not since at least the 3rd century BCE. (It may still have been pronounced by the Kohanim within the Temple after that, but it hasn't been since the Temple was destroyed.)
The tradition of not pronouncing the Name, however, is over 2000 years old. Moreover, no one's sure of the pronunciation. Moreover still--well, you're dealing with an ineffable name that refers to the ground of being and existence itself. I still find that a convincing argument for not speaking it--especially since we can't even be sure of getting the pronunciation right.
When I read the Bible in Hebrew (or the prayerbook) my eyes see the Name, but I'm just used to automatically substituting Adonai or HaShem. And when I pray non-formal prayers--that is, not official 'brachas' or blessings--I usually use HaShem. (As in, "HaShem, please get me through this awful day!" when things are going wrong.)
I would never criticize anyone for pronouncing the Name from a Christian pulpit. But I honestly don't think they should--especially as so many people, not just Jews, feel that it should not be pronounced and are likely to be offended.But I can chalk it up to a genuine--and understandable--difference of opinion.
However, it really bothers me to hear the Name bandied about casually--usually by people taking their first Religion course in college. (But sometimes by experienced professors.) And in that, I think we can agree!
~Rose