Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: dg@pallio.uucp (David Goodenough) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Jesus who? Message-ID: Date: 18 Sep 90 08:54:09 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 39 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu jag@cello.cellbio.duke.edu (John Allan Graves) asks: > [history of the word "Christ"] deleted > ..... should Jesus of Nazareth be called in his > titular form either Jesus the Christ as in Jesus the > Messiah or Jesus, Christ? Christ is not a surname > in my reading. I would agree with John. I suspect that the first form (with a "the") was what was intended. However it may be the case in Greek [1] as it is in Latin that there are no definite or indefinite articles: you wouldn't say "That is a chair" in Latin, but "That is chair". Whether "a" or "the" is intended can usually be figured from context. [1] I don't know _ANY_ Greek, except for the letters of the alphabet, so a comment from a Greek scholar would be most welcome. If this were applied to Jesus the Christ, then the closest they could get would be the second: Jesus, Christ where the comma is intentionally placed to make it like Christ is not a last name. Also, if you read all up and down the Bible, nowhere do you find the equivalent of a surname. People in that place at those times didn't have last names like we do in current Western civilization. Even now, in some scandanavian countries (Iceland for one), I would be David Peterson, since my father's name is Peter, and he would be Peter Harryson (can you see where Harrison came from :-) ) since his father was Harry. So, for example, in the Bible, Christ says "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonah" or "Simon, Son of Jonah". Also, note that when the "geaneology" is cited at the beginning of Matthew, it's first names only. So in those times there _WERE_ no last names, and the title Jesus Christ would have it's intended meaning. In Christ, -- dg@pallio.UUCP - David Goodenough +---+ IHS | +-+-+ ..... !harvard!xait!pallio!dg +-+-+ | AKA: dg%pallio.uucp@xait.xerox.com +---+