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Renaming God: Why “The Course” May Save Your Faith

Renaming God: Why “The Course” May Save Your Faith

Last updated on: January 6, 2026 at 7:14 pm by Gregory T. Smith

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Renaming God: Why “The Course” May Save Your Faith 2026-01-06T19:14:42-08:00 Gregory T. Smith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

If the name “God” has been used to harm or abuse, try “The Course”—a Path you can walk, holy Lessons you live, and Love you can trust.

Renaming God “the Course” may lead you to a safe haven when your faith threatens to become a shipwreck. (Illustration generated with AI to reflect the themes of this article.)

This “Renaming God” series recognizes that many of the common names for God suffer from misuse and misunderstanding. A lot of violence has been committed in God’s name, resulting in baggage for many. Past experiences, cultural distinctives, theological biases, and other factors affect the way we view the Divine.

Saints and strugglers from all ages have renamed God according to their own experiences and needs. We need to feel the blessing to do the same.

Renaming God

If you’re looking for a new name for God, you might first look to the past. Many old names for God have been neglected. This series has revisited and given new life to ancient names of God like Light, Life, the Way and the Tao, the Wellspring and Source, and Peace. Yes, we don’t have to call God “the God of light.” We can, in fact, just use “Light” as one of the divine names. This applies to many of the ancient names that we’ve too easily forgotten.

Philosophers and theologians are constantly re-envisioning ways to refer to the Infinite Being. In this series, I’ve also looked at less traditional names like the Unmoved Mover, the God of My Understanding, the Universe, and Nature. Names like this may help those who are living through a faith-shift, so they don’t lose their faith altogether.

“Renaming God” also considers our own ability to apply new titles to the Divine with words that hold personal meaning for us. Original names in this series include the Center, the Host, and in today’s article, the Course. When we experience the freedom to rename God, we come to know God in a fresh and individual way.

The Course

Why rename God “The Course”? Because too often God has been envisioned as a score-keeper in the sky, a mercurial monarch, or an unjust judge. The Course is gentler, humbler, and can’t serve as anyone’s mascot.

The word itself has many meanings—much like the many faces of God. A course is a direction or route taken. It’s a path. A way. A track. A road. It’s also the channel along which things move: the course of a stream. It’s a progression through time. A manner of proceeding. A series of lessons. A prescribed set of treatments. The ground on which we run our race. The bearing you set when you can’t see the shoreline. Each of these unique definitions for the word offers a fresh way of understanding the Divine.

God as The Route

Remember old-fashioned maps—before they started moving? They told you where to go, but they themselves were static. Even once GPS technology added animations, they only showed you the way. They were not, themselves, the way. The course of travel, however, assumes movement. It implies that life is not a map, but the journey itself.

When I call God The Course, I’m referring to the One who said, “I am the Way.” The divine route that can be lived—an orientation toward wholeness that keeps pulling us toward what is real, what is healing, and what is alive and loving. You can’t get to God unless you’re on the journey—because God is the journey itself.

A course is “a direction or route taken.” That doesn’t just mean all the fun parts of the trip. It means the flat tires, speed bumps, wrong turns, and the missteps as well. God is the road to Bethlehem as well as the flight to Egypt. If we look for the Divine only in joyful destinations, we fail to find God in painful places. God is on the Via Dolorosa and the road to Eumaeus—because God is the route, the course, itself. God is found not only at the finish line, but in the taking of the next step.

God as the Course of a Stream

Dictionary.com gives us one of my favorite definitions: “the path, route, or channel along which anything moves: the course of a stream.” A stream never needs to argue or fight its way downhill. It doesn’t shame or blame rocks for being in the way. It adapts to the landscape and doesn’t expect to flow in a straight line. A watercourse moves, yields, finds new ways—and in doing so, it carves canyons.

Religion teaches us to be better rule-followers. But streams don’t move by rule-keeping. They move by the deep, consistent pull of gravity that gives them direction. Love is like that. Truth and healing are like that. If God is the Course, then God is the deep pull towards wholeness, a reliable riverbed that leads us to the Ocean of love. God is an invitation to move, even when the watercourse bends, when it rushes, gushes, or slows. The Course leads onward and is never in a hurry.

God as a Progression, Not Performance

A course is also “advance or progression in a particular direction; forward or onward movement.” When religion makes you feel like you must perform to win divine acceptance, understanding God as a progression means you don’t have to achieve to find favor. You simply keep going. When we name God as the Course, we embrace our own movement of steady progression toward ultimate goodness. We don’t have to be good to move toward Ultimate Goodness.

God as the Passage of Time

Another definition of the word is, “the continuous passage or progress through time or a succession of stages: in the course of a year; in the course of the battle.” This gives me pause. Life is not a calm class or lecture you just sit through until the bell rings. Sometimes it’s a battle, complete with despair, addiction, grief, trauma, poverty, racism, chronic illness, betrayal, the remnants of what happened to you, and the regret for things you did.

If God is the Course, then God is not shocked by life’s stages. God is in the passage of time and is not perturbed by the process. God is not anxious for your prodigal child to come home but is present in the bucket of slops.

There are things you can only learn “in the course of time.” Forgiveness, for example, is rarely instant. It takes practice and failure before you get it right. Trust is something you develop. Grief is a slog you have to move through. Justice is slow, and rarely swift. But if we are patient enough to allow time to run its Course, we can find the kindness of God along the way.

God as the Ground Beneath Your Feet

A course is also “the track, ground, water, etc., on which a race is run, sailed, etc.” Paul writes to the Hebrews:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…

This Racecourse, of course, is none other than the Pioneer and Perfecter of faith—Jesus himself. I love this because a course isn’t just the direction you run—it’s the ground beneath your feet.

Some Christians were raised on spiritual ground that couldn’t hold weight. The moment they asked real questions or showed pain or noticed hypocrisy, the floor dropped out. So, they fell—because they didn’t have much to stand on.

But if God is the Course, then God is the Ground that holds. Here’s the thing to sink your cleats into: sometimes the Ground that holds you isn’t certainty. Sometimes it’s found in honesty about your feelings, or in therapy, or in a friend who listens without trying to fix you. Sometimes the Course feels like each breath you take along the way, filling your lungs when you feel you can’t go on. And, as the Course holds us, it says…

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure.

The Course is the ground beneath you even when life is shaking. It is not only the race laid out for you, but the track on which your cleats can grip.

God as a Course of Action

Another definition of the word is, “a particular manner of proceeding: a course of action.” This is where God becomes a verb.

For many people, God is a concept—something you study, debate, or discuss. But a course of action is not a concept. It’s something you do—a chosen way of moving through the world. When we embrace the Way of Christ, we not only walk his path, but we also follow his course of action.

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to choose a better course of action:

Tell the truth instead of protecting an image.
Set a boundary instead of enabling harm.
Ask for help instead of pretending everything is okay.
Show compassion instead of restating how you’ve been wronged.
Choose restoration and reconciliation instead of revenge.

When God is a verb, you decide to do the right thing—not because there’s a scorekeeper in the sky, but because Love is the greatest Course of action there is.

God as the Regular Order of Healing

One of the more surprising definitions of “course” is “a customary manner of procedure; regular or natural order of events: the course of a disease.” Physicians use the word “course” all the time: the course of treatment, the course of recovery, the course of a condition.

When people suffer affliction, they often ask, “Why is God doing this to me?” But understanding God as a Course in this sense means there’s no one to blame. Something is just unfolding—and it can be understood and tended.

Because Jesus’s miracles were often dramatic, many faithful people expect signs and wonders when it comes to their own healing. But sometimes healing is ordinary, repetitive, and boring. It involves relapses, setbacks, and triggers. It requires you to take medication, trust your providers, and develop new skills and coping mechanisms. If you need healing, then God is your Course—which you must be willing to embrace, no matter what that looks like.

God as the Course of Instruction

As we all know, a course is also “a systematized or prescribed series, as in a course of lectures, a program of instruction.”

A course you take in school teaches you the lessons you need to succeed academically. Life teaches you lessons you need to succeed in every other way. And, since God is Life (click here to read more), then God is the Course of Instruction that leads to wisdom.

God, who is both the Teacher and the Curriculum of love, never humiliates you for being a beginner or not understanding the lesson. Instead, God meets you for after-school tutoring, patiently waiting until you’re ready to learn. Some lessons are gentle. Some lessons are painful. Sometimes you don’t choose your course of study—Life chooses it for you. But you can choose what to do with the knowledge. When God is the Course, you can trust the Teacher.

God as the Main Course

This next meaning of the word should make you hungry for more: A course is “a part of a meal served at one time: the main course.”

Most of us are starving—spiritually, emotionally, relationally—and we keep trying to survive on appetizers and dessert, things like approval, success, being right, outperforming others, doomscrolling, and even religion. All these may feel like a meal, but they’ll leave you hungry and malnourished. It’s the Main Course that really nourishes you. Jesus said:

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

If God is the Course, then God is not just the side garnish—like curly kale with a slice of orange. God is the meal, the nourishment, the sustenance. This tastes like love, justice, and mercy. It’s seasoned with belonging and truth and covered with wholeness as gravy. That’s the main course. Everything else is just snacks.

God as Bearing

In navigation, a course is “the line along the earth’s surface upon or over which a ship, an aircraft, etc., proceeds… described by its bearing.”

In the Pacific Northwest, the rain and fog can be thick. When we visit our relatives on Vancouver Island, the ferry could easily get lost in the pea soup. Why don’t we run aground on one of the San Juan Islands, or strike another boat in the Strait of Georgia? It’s because the captain has a bearing. And that bearing gets us to our destination.

God as the Course doesn’t mean you’ll always see clearly. Sometimes fear overcomes you and blocks out the light. Doubt makes your voice echo back in eerie mockery. You feel adrift. But you don’t navigate by the fog—you steer according to your Course. It’s the Course that gets you home. So, renaming God “the Course” may lead you to a safe haven when your faith threatens to become a shipwreck.

Renaming God “the Course”

Renaming God can rescue your floundering faith. It can fill you when you’re empty. It can teach you valuable lessons and guide you to healing. It can show you the best course of action and provide the very ground to walk upon.

Renaming God rescues the Divine from becoming a lifeless icon. It takes control away from those who want to maintain the status quo and allows you room to move and a little breathing space. Renaming God allows room for spiritual process and progress because it honors the fact that life is a journey and not a destination.

When the old names for God seem static, embrace the idea that God is the Course. And, more than a noun, God is a verb. God is the One who courses through you like breath, blood, and blessing. When you can feel this coursing of God in your veins, divine love flows through you like a holy heartbeat, a flowing fountain bubbling up from within.

For related reading, check out my other articles:

General Christian

Relationships and Religion

Travel and Religion

Challenging the Church

Spiritual Deconstruction

Spiritual journey

About Gregory T. Smith

I live in the beautiful Fraser Valley of British Columbia and work in northern Washington State as a behavioral health specialist with people experiencing homelessness and those who are overly involved in the criminal justice system. Before that, I spent over a quarter-century as lead pastor of several Virginia churches. My newspaper column, “Spirit and Truth” ran in Virginia newspapers for fifteen years. I am one of fourteen contributing authors of the Patheos/Quoir Publishing book “Sitting in the Shade of another Tree: What We Learn by Listening to Other Faiths.” I hold a degree in Religious Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University, and also studied at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. My wife Christina and I have seven children between us, and we are still collecting grandchildren. You can read more about the author here.

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