*The correct transliteration of the Hebrew to English. In old English it was transliterated with a <j>, which at that time represented phoneme /y/, like the <j> of German. The spelling was retained after the sound shifted to its present phonetic value.
Christ derives from the Greek translation of Hebrew
Meshiach (the anointed one). Names should be transliterated, not translated. As a joke, I have been called Señor Vestíbulo, but in serious conversation am Señor Hall. The Messiah's mission was performed among the Jews—the only non-pagan people on earth at that time—not the Greeks. In all propriety we should reverently refer to him and pray in his name as
Yeshua Messiah. The softer syllables of
Yeshua Messiah lend themselves much less to sacriligious profanation as an epithet.
As an infantryman in World War II, I participated in the liberation of the six concentration camps at
Landsberg and at war's end was at Dachau. Since then, I have been a fierce defender of the Jews. Calling our Savior by a Greek name is a perverse manifestation of anti-Semitism. Praying in the name of the Messiah, we acknowledge his Jewishness and indirectly pay homage to the great chosen people who gave us the Old and New Testaments, including, of course, the prophecies regarding his first and second comings.
Yeshua has replaced Howe's
Jesus here. Howe's work is in the public domain.