Newton's Cat

The New Testament states in a number of places that people should believe in the NAME of Jesus Christ.

IHSOUS CRISTOS

Is it merely a coincidence that this Greek name of Jesus Christ anagrams to:

OSIRIS SHT COUS

I'll leave it for people who know a bit of Greek, and are familiar with Egyptian mythology to perhaps make a response.

Personally I think this anagram of Jesus' name is the KEY to understanding what Christianity is all about.

IamJoseph

I don't think this has much to do with greeks. The name Christ comes from the word Moshiach [Redeemer] in the Hebrew, translated as christos in the septuagint in 320 BCE. The name Joshua was one of the most common Hebrew names in the 1st C Judea - and the greek and latin had no J - this was substituted for the Y. I believe the term christos, then Christian, was first applied in 174 CE.

Toto

Stuck in a time warp, are we?

From May 2008:

http://www.freeratio.org/showthread.php?t=244846

mountainman

The oldest greek manuscripts show the work of a single redactor
and the name of Jesus Christ is nowhere written in full,
rather the name is written as an abbreviation - "nomina sacra".

The oldest coptic and syriac manuscripts also follow this pattern.
The name is nowhere written in full, rather an abbreviated term
consistent of two sets of two letters with an overbar is always
employed. Why? Does anyone know?

The abbreviated name of Jesus is the same as the abbreviated name
for Joshua. The same abbreviation for Joshua appears in the LXX.

Perhaps Jesus' secret scribal code name was Joshua Christ?

spamandham

It seems to me that the ancient Jews (and many others) thought there was power in names. The utterance of the name YHWH was believed to invoke his power. Why not the same for the name "Jesus Christ"?

mountainman

You mean, like "MacDonald's"?

Perhaps in the world of those who "knew" the word was never uttered.
Certainly in the world of the scribes, the name was never written.
A simple algebra was employed.
A substitution of an abbreviation.
Let Jesus = "JS"
Surely these scribes were not all simply saving paper.
Why was the name not written in full?
There are many Joshua stories.
Perhaps Constantine borrowed the Joshua Code?
Earlier, the scribes preserving the LXX had agreed
to the formulae Let Joshua = "LS"

spamandham

Here's me expressing my ignorance. Within the LXX, is Old Testament Joshua abbreviated in similar fasion to YHWH and the New Testament abbreviation?

mountainman

Have a quick look at Fabulating Jesus - Why Gnostic "Codes" Do Not Name the Historical Jesus.

Also at one time the following translator's notes
were associated with the Marcellus of Ancyra Fragment 4

The (abbreviated) names of Joshua and Jesus

The Greek word “Jesus” is used in the Old Testament
to translate the (sacred) name Joshua, and in the
New Testament for Jesus of Nazareth.

Marcellus of Ancyra Fragment 4

Fragment number Klost. 1 -- Rettb. 1 -- Vinz. 4
Source Eusebius, Against Marcellus 1.2;
GCS: Eusebius vol. 4 (3rd ed.), pp. 9-10.
Modern edition M. Vinzent, Markell von Ankyra:
Die Fragmente (Leiden, 1997).

Translator's Notes:

The Greek word “Jesus” is used
in the Old Testament
to translate the name Joshua,
and in the New Testament
for Jesus of Nazareth.

Marcellus declares the name Jesus
to be the greatest name upon the earth.
To prove this, he quotes the angel’s
statement to Mary in Luke as well as
a passage in Zechariah.

The Old Testament hero Joshua was given
the same name as the Savior
because he was a type,
i.e. one foreshadowing a future person,
in this case Jesus who leads true believers
into the heavenly Jerusalem.

wordy

Name seems to be important. Cat Stevens took a muslim name after he began to take his faith seriously. Muhammad Ali most likely had another name first.

A lot of Buddhists take a buddhist name after they decide on suchness, Similar with those who do Krischna awareness.

Even some Pagan takes a pagan name instead of teh Christian name they have from their parents.

Companies buy Brand name from each other cause some people tend to buy products from a known name and not a new unknown brand name.

So Jesus maybe was a way to say this is our trusted Brand name.

Joshua maybe sounded too Jewish to them? They wanted to have a Greek version that made a new start.

We had a thread way back about another name Jesus was supposed to have before he was born? Immanuel and some Churches has that name, at least in Sweden. so some Christians maybe like the name Immanuel too.

show_no_mercy

I'm not entirely sure about the anagram in the OP. If I understand Greek correctly, there are three grammatical variations of "Jesus" in Greek: Ιησου (Jesu), Ιησους (Jesus), and Ιησουν (Jesun). "Jesus" is only used when Jesus is doing something (like "Jesus is preaching the good news"), and "Jesu" is the neutral Greek transliteration of "Joshua" (Mark 1:1 - the beginning of the good news of Jesu Christ). "Jesun" is used when something is being done to Jesus (they crucified Jesun!).

Maybe someone more fluent in Greek can correct me.