[HANASHIR:14412] Re: Another Hatikvah question

[Mitch Bassman <mbassman...>]

Julia,

Well, I acknowledge that I do not know the Greek language at all, but, yes, 
it does mean "anointed one." That's exactly what "messiah" means: the 
anointed one of G-d. Calling Jesus "Christ" is what identifies one as a 
Christian.

For multiple dictionary references, including etymologies, see 
<http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=christ>.

--Mitch

At 11:30 AM 05/22/2003, Julia Priest wrote:
>I thought Christos meant annointed one?
>Sorry, my Greek is pretty rusty--do you know anyone with a Liddell and Scott
>dictionary on hand where we can check?
>Julia
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Mitch Bassman [mailto:mbassman (at) erols(dot)com]
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2003 11:38 AM
> > To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> > Subject: [HANASHIR:14336] Re: Another Hatikvah question
> >
> >
> > At 12:57 AM 05/20/2003, Rahel wrote:
> > >The next year, in a different class at a different synagogue, I
> > was asked
> > >by a student if I could teach the class about Jesus Christ [sic]. I
> > >declined stating that we were here to learn about Judaism. I suggested
> > >that they could research about Jesus Christ [sic] in many other
> > places and
> > >on their own time.
> >
> > I do agree with Rahel's comments, but, if the student posed the question
> > the way you cited it, then you missed a perfect opportunity to teach your
> > student something specific about Judaism. Our kids need to
> > understand that
> > Jews (as well as persons of any other non-Christian religion) do
> > not refer
> > to Jesus (son of Joseph) as "Christ" because only Christians believe that
> > he was the "Christ" (from the Greek word for messiah or moshiach in
> > Hebrew). It bothers me to hear (or read) Jewish colleagues
> > referring to the
> > man as though "Christ" were his last name rather than an
> > honorific applied
> > only by Christians. Remind your students that people didn't have
> > last names
> > at that time, that his name was probably Yeshuah ben Yosef, and that the
> > title (not name) of "messiah" (i.e., Christ) was applied only
> > later by his
> > disciples. That much you could teach them, so that they don't grow up
> > referring to "Jesus Christ" as though that were the actual name
> > of someone.
> >
> > We now return you to your regular discussions about music.
> >
> > --Mitch Bassman
> >
> >

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