Utterances of Divine Names. Many older polytheistic religions believed that by saying the name of a god it could be controlled. This is especially true in folk religions, for instance, Taoism. A Taoist priest is said to have the power to control spirits and deities by knowing the exact details of the being. Not just its name, but also its clothing, its mannerism, its smell, and even its personality all had to be performed perfectly in order to properly control the being. These are all ancient examples of the use of performative utterances, or statements that do things or cause something to happen merely through being uttered.
The novelty we find in monotheism is that God cannot be controlled because the truth of his name is beyond human’s puny minds.
