I wonder what was the first thing that came to Adam's mind when he saw a hippo for the first time. God was in the middle of wowing him with a parade of animals and then BAM! A hippo. What do you do with that sort of thing? Adam was exercising dominion over the earth. One of the most significant parts of this exercise was that of naming the animals. God named Adam, Adam named that animals. Throughout the bible, there is a tremendous significance attached to names. Whether the name was Isaac, because of laughter or Israel for striving. Whether it was a renaming from Abram to Abraham, Levi to Matthew, or Saul to Paul, names meant (and mean) something to God and something to parents. Which is why we have named our son Owen Baxter.
The name Owen is tricky. You see, my family are rabid San Jose Sharks hockey fans. Owen Nolan used to be their captain. Naturally, my brother Steve assumed we were naming him after a former hockey player. My mom instantly thought of Owen Wilson, the actor. Aside from the fact that his nose makes my nose hurt, I could not think of a poorer namesake. Actually, that isn't true. I probably could. I digress. Owen does a nice poetic quality and is phonetically a "strong" sounding name. Both of which I like but not the reason why we chose it.
We chose Owen for two reasons. In my mind (perhaps not Kat's) neither of these reasons is the "main" reason, so pay no attention to the order of presentation. We named Owen because Kat had read somewhere that it means "desire born." This obviously has resonance with us because we have deeply desired a family for a couple of years now. Owen will be a young man born to fulfill a deep desire of both Kat and I for parenthood. We also named Owen because one of my heroes was a man named John Owen. John Owen was a theologian and Renaissance man in 17th century. He was a man who new what he believed and was willing to stand up for it no matter what odds were against him. He served as Oliver Cromwell's chaplain and as the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University for a number of years. He is widely know as one of the most brilliant theological minds of the last 500 years.
Owen had a profound religious experience (much akin to our modern "conversion" experience) while listening to a sermon on Matthew 8:26: "And [Jesus] said to them, 'Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm." Given our love for all things ocean, we couldn't have picked a better man to be moved by a better verse.
Baxter is a different story. Nobody likes Baxter. But we do. It means, "baker." That is not why we chose it though. We chose it because of a man named Richard Baxter. Richard Baxter was a Puritan pastor who was a contemporary of John Owen. I read his books The Reformed Pastor, Saint's Everlasting Rest and Call to the Unconverted to Turn and Live while in college and they had a major formative role in shaping my theology of ministry and God's call on my life. His books, along with one significant conversation with my pastor, are the main reasons why I am a teacher.
An interesting historical tidbit - Owen and Baxter disagreed over their theology of Christ's atonement (Owen was right, in my humble opinion) and spent a number of years in controversy over the doctrine. When they were both expelled from the Church of England for being Non-Conformists (too long of a story for too short of a blog) they ended up putting aside their controversy for a time in order to minister together for the good of countless other Christians who had been expelled along with them. It paints a pretty awesome picture for my son that his two namesakes, who disagreed and fought over some very important (yet non-salvific) issues were able to put aside the disagreements for the good of others.
The name Owen Baxter means something. I look forward to explaining to my son where his name comes from.
Chet
P.S. Not to mention that the name Owen Baxter just rolls off the tongue.
3 comments:
you do have a way with words... an amazing way. and it is important that your kids names roll of the tongue!
Owen Nolan is one of the best Sharks of all-time. Our brother's George and Mike would be proud if you named your son after Nolan. Your reasons are probably better though for his name.
When my little girl was born, her middle name was Lee, after the famous General Robert E. Lee, whose desire for God was well known. (It didn't hurt that I was from the south, either) When she gave me a grandson, I was overjoyed when they announced his name as Calvin, because of their admiration of John Calvin.
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