Comments on: Little Caesars

By: Christopher Smith

Christopher Smith — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 07:21:12 +0000

Thanks, Kevin. I’ve heard this before and didn’t think twice about it. Just assumed it was true, I guess. Now that you point it out, I can see that it obviously isn’t. Funny the things we believe just because someone told us so, eh?

By: Cynthia L.

Cynthia L. — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:14:41 +0000

#14--Jess, earlier this week we learned the secret to being as smart as Kevin Barney. :-)

By: Jessawhy

Jessawhy — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:00:38 +0000

Well, I’ve never heard the “Little Christs” bit before (which surprises me since I had release-time seminary)

But, how did this thread degenerate so quickly?

(maybe I’m just jealous because I don’t know any of these geography/mission jokes, or because I’m not smart as smart as Kevin Barney :)

By: Randall

Randall — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:55:26 +0000

In the greatest mission in France (n’est ce pas, Steve Evans?) it was:

DLness
ZLness
AP….

By: cowboy

cowboy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:12:20 +0000

#10

Utah – Utahn
Texas – Texan
Missouri – Missourian
Tampa – ????

By: Peter LLC

Peter LLC — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:16:13 +0000

Thanks, Kevin.

By: meems

meems — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:07:03 +0000

That reminds me of a joke a friend told me.
Him: What do you call someone from Manhattan?
Me: A Manhattanite?
Him: Correct. Now what do you call someone from Moscow.
Me: A Moskovite!
Him: Yes. So… what do you call someone from Paris??
Me: (grimace).

By: meems

meems — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:58:38 +0000

Like CE, I have always assumed Christ-ian meant the same as Ephes-ian, Paris-ian, Russ-ian, etc.

It never occurred to me that there would be a different etymology or interpretation of this. Thanks for the information… as always!

By: Paul McNabb

Paul McNabb — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:36:02 +0000

The situation is worse than you note, Kevin. If you reverse the order of your google search so that you are looking for ‘christian “little christ” greek’ you will see over 4000 hits. (Don’t ask me to explain Google’s search algorithm!) And if you leave out the word “Greek” from the google search you get 16,700 hits.

This bizarre definition of “Christian” can often be found in “Who’s a Christian?” debates, where one “little Christ” group is smugly attempting to oust another “follower of Christ” group from the Christian fold. If this “little Christ” definition is adopted, then one can start asserting that a proper understanding of the attributes of Christ is an appropriate measure of who is and isn’t a Christian.

Anyway, thanks for the brief analysis. I always knew it was a bad interpretation of “Christian” but my knowledge of Koine Greek and historical usage isn’t good enough to tackle it on my own.

By: dug

dug — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:17:16 +0000

I wonder if C.S. Lewis was confused as well, or if it’s just coincidence that he said “the Church exists for nothing
else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs.”