CHRIST

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Slava
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CHRIST

Postby Slava » Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:05 pm

Here is today's AWOL Good Word:
• Christ •

Pronunciation: kraist • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, proper

Meaning: The Western European epithet used in referring to Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem in the year 1 or thereabouts, a birth Christians throughout the world celebrate today.

Notes: Jesus Christ (Jesus, the Anointed) is believed by millions to be the Son of God, the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament. Millions of others believe him to be the prophet of God. Everyone agrees that Christ is the source of the Christian doctrine that has survived and is growing today. This name is the eponym of Christian, and its noun, Christianity, referring both to the doctrine preached by Christ and the collective body of all believers in that doctrine, as in world Christianity (or Christendom).

In Play: While Christians take Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Qur'an accepts him as a prophet on a level with Moses. Jews do not accept Christ as the Messiah. So, Christians, Muslims, and Jews acknowledge the same God but differ as to the status attributed to Christ in their respective religions.

Word History: The history of the epithet Christ is itself a reflection of Jesus' humble origins. The original root from which Christ is derived was the humble PIE root *ghrei- "to rub". Contracted to *ghri- and suffixed with -s it became Germanic *gris- "frighten" which underlies grisly. Suffixed with -m, it gave us grime from Old Germanic *grim "smear." In Greek it emerges as khriein "to anoint," whose past participle, khristos "anointed" has been adopted in the West as the epithet for Jesus of Nazareth.

bhall
Junior Lexiterian
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Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2013 4:16 am

Re: CHRIST

Postby bhall » Tue Apr 02, 2013 12:45 am

"Born in the year 0"? Wat?

Also, the Orthodox branch of Christianity doesn't celebrate Easter this year until next Sunday, the 7th of April.

Philip Hudson
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Re: CHRIST

Postby Philip Hudson » Tue Apr 02, 2013 2:45 am

Jesus was not born in the year 0. There is no year 0 in the Christian Calendar. I am sure the Good Doctor knows that and this was just an inadvertent error. When the Christian calendar was created, the makers of the calendar did not understand the concepts of zero and negative numbers. They meant that Jesus was born in the year 1 AD and the year before that was 1 BC, leaving out zero altogether. Forgiving them this error, they still didn't get it right. Comparing historical events mentioned at the birth of Jesus with these events dated by the Roman calendar causes scholars to believe that Jesus was probably born in 4 BC.

As for the date of Easter, it could be calculated by the Hebrew calendar because it was timed as a part of Passover. However, the methods of calculating time and the need for Easter to be on a Sunday has caused a somewhat arbitrary calculation for the date. The eastern churches use a different method of calculating this date than the western churches use.

For Christians, Jesus is the Messiah which is Hebrew for "The anointed one" referring to the act of putting oil on the head of a new king. The Good Doctor's word history of the Greek word we call Christ in English is well done indeed.

bhall, welcome to the forum. Post often.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.


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