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View Full Version : The Man Jesus? (Semantics, not a religious discussion)



Canada
11-08-2011, 04:14 AM
I'm sorry if this should be in Manni village, but as the lore of the Man Jesus is not discussed much in DT, I thought it was appropriate enough for the general thread.

Ahem. As the title says, this is NOT A RELIGIOUS DISCUSSION (Religion makes for bad table talk, as you know)

My question is this. Why do they refer to the Christian Jesus as "Man-Jesus?" This may be just a little thing King does with the naming just to make it sound foreign and, I dunno, mythical. But To me, when someone says Man Jesus, it makes me think two things.

1) That Jesus is a figure only men, or humes, would be able to follow, or relate to, and they are the only ones that take up Jesus-centric faith. If this is true, however, why don't they simply call him "Hume-Jesus" or just "Jesus" instead of conferring him with a species-specific title. That brings me to my second point...
2) That there are multiple Christ figures, perhaps so many as one-per-race. However silly this may be (Such as Weasel-Jesus or Low-Jesus or Robo Christ, many other functions) it ties into point 1, by differentiating Man-Jesus from someone else with the same name that we never encounter or is never mentioned.

I know most likely King didn't give a second thought to naming him and I'm thinking about this for nothing, but I thought I'd get you guys' thoughts on this minimal, but interesting semantical quandry.

OchrisO
11-08-2011, 05:37 AM
I expect that it is either because Jesus often called himself "The Son of Man" in The New Testament(The expression occurs 82 times in the four Gospels, and is used only in the sayings of Jesus. It only occurs four times in other New Testament books.), or that the people of The Dark Tower think of him only as a prophet and not as the son of God.

pathoftheturtle
11-08-2011, 03:33 PM
It's because among polytheists, Jesus would be a god notable for the unusual feature of being believed to also be human.

ladysai
08-01-2013, 08:24 PM
It's because among polytheists, Jesus would be a god notable for the unusual feature of being believed to also be human.

I think thats quite possible. Perhaps Lady Oriza's name reflects the same uniqueness.

pathoftheturtle
08-02-2013, 02:55 AM
Perhaps Lady Oriza's name reflects the same uniqueness.I forget the details. Was she a goddess?

I think some mortals were granted godhood in ancient myth, but that's rather different from a god coming down among humans for a life and a death.

ladysai
08-02-2013, 10:58 AM
I believe she was considered a goddess...but your point is well made.
I dont believe she was divine as human, but made divine through myth and legend.

Jean
08-02-2013, 11:15 AM
I love how King's understanding of what language is lets him create whole concepts in a couple of words. Man Jesus and or Lady Orisa are phrases that offer glimpses of an unknown culture. It's Lady as in Our Lady or Landlady in the original meaning (lady of the land, which ties her to her agricultural roots in a country that fell back to being primarily agrarian); it's also Lady as opposed to a commoner and Lady who takes care of the peasants on her land; close and distant at the same time: human and divine.

pathoftheturtle
08-02-2013, 11:17 AM
Well, I have a source that she was associated with rice goddesses in the Callas.

Mortal gods may not be unique to the Christian faith, but it's distinct in the faith. I think the semantics is a neat bit of literary projection.

Honkymofo
09-21-2014, 10:44 AM
In the New Testament Paul the apostle refers to Him as "The Man, Christ Jesus" at least once.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus - I Timothy 2:5 [KJV]

whyto
01-02-2016, 06:02 PM
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Jon
01-09-2016, 11:23 AM
In ancient Egypt...weren't the Pharaohs know as "Man Gods?"

Xerrand
01-13-2016, 04:55 PM
Personally I just assumed that it was like a lot of things in the DT universe, there is always certain concepts or aspects of our real world which also exists in Roland's world but with a slight change or two introduced. Such as the song Hey Jude being present but with different lyrics, and the general wild west style culture which exists throughout much of his world. As for why he is specifically called "The Man Jesus" rather than just Jesus, again it's just a subtle difference in the world that Roland inhabits. I think maybe it is because while he was on the earth Jesus was a man, and therefore all of his wordly teachings were conducted while he was a man, though he is also obviously the son of God. However while referring to him perhaps the "Man Jesus" is a way of referring to him during his time of earth, and also highlighting the fact that he can also be something more than man at the same time? I hope this makes sense.

Jon
01-14-2016, 07:33 PM
Personally I just assumed that it was like a lot of things in the DT universe, there is always certain concepts or aspects of our real world which also exists in Roland's world but with a slight change or two introduced. Such as the song Hey Jude being present but with different lyrics, and the general wild west style culture which exists throughout much of his world. As for why he is specifically called "The Man Jesus" rather than just Jesus, again it's just a subtle difference in the world that Roland inhabits. I think maybe it is because while he was on the earth Jesus was a man, and therefore all of his wordly teachings were conducted while he was a man, though he is also obviously the son of God. However while referring to him perhaps the "Man Jesus" is a way of referring to him during his time of earth, and also highlighting the fact that he can also be something more than man at the same time? I hope this makes sense.


"Mayhap." LOL

Susie1975
03-13-2016, 10:19 AM
Not only the Man-Jesus, Roland sometimes uses "My God"... or similar (I don't have a specific example right now), at the moment I am the beginning of Book 3, and in the last days I thought about it. He doesn't believe in God, Roland grew up with other mythology, but why does he use this phrase? *thinking*