I've been reading several "Jewish" books lately.
They are popular (vs. "religious:) works "about" Jews written by people who claim to be Jews. All have one thing in common: the use of the term messiah for the person Jesus.
It's "Christ" this and "Christ" that, as if "Christ" was Jesus' offical last name.
If writers, especially Jewish authors, must refer to Jesus as "Christ," let it be in correct language - in English as Jesus THE Christ.
"Christ" is a title applied by Jesus' followers, although I doubt based on my limited knowledge of his followers if those who claimed to know him considered him the messiah. Obviously he had a following, enlarged by a man - Paul nee' Saul - who never met the historical Jesus and I suspect it was Paul who deified Jesus as a christ/messiah.
I see no difference, in so far as language goes, between Winnie THE Pooh (Edward Bear to those in the know), Sparky THE Fire Dog, Richard THE Lionhearted, Ivan THE Terrible, and Jesus THE "Christ." "THE" is a required word. It defines the following word(s) as an attribution.
It's bad enough when I see Jesus and "Christ" written together, as if "Christ" was Jesus' surname/family name. (Parenthetically, family names were not common in Judaism during the Roman occupation and only came into international use during Napoleon Bonaparte 's reign in the early 19th century when last names became a requirement by fiat.)
It seems to me that any even semi-observant Jew would realize that "Christ" is hardly a family name and that constant - oft-repeated - references to "Christ" sans either "Jesus" or the article "the" suggests that the author either (a) accepts Jesus as his or her messiah, (b) is cowed by the dominant religion in America, or (c) assumes most readers will be followers of Jesus and will feel comfortable with the attribution-as-name.
If it is "David HaMelek" and "Elihu HaNavee" why do Jews insist on omitting "the" between Jesus and "christ."
