“The Jesus who said” - why is there a definite article before the proper name “Jesus”?

Question

The system doesn't seem to be providing for the well-being of all the people, and that's what makes it, almost in its very nature, something contrary to the Jesus who said, "Blessed are the poor. Woe to the rich." (source: a documentary film)

Since normally proper names are not preceded by the definite article, I don't know why in a film a person said "the Jesus". I hear the definite article before Jesus, and the subtitles also confirm that, but I don't know if I heard it wrong, so here is a link to a YouTube video starting at that part of the film.

Why is the definite article used here? My hunch is it is to emphasize a particular version, if you will, among different versions of Jesus that preached on the poor and the rich. Are there other examples of the definite article being used before proper names/nouns?

Answer 1

When a person has said many things over the course of their life, those statements may not always be perfectly consonant with one another. Using the definite article the is an acknowledgement of that dissonance or lack of agreement between one statement and another:

Where's the President Trump who promised a middle-class tax break?

It's as if to say there is more than one version of the person, and the speaker is singling out one of them.

P.S. In the specific context of Jesus, he is known only via the biographical traditions that present his life and sayings, and thus there are literally "versions" of Jesus. Sometimes, as Jeff says, the speaker who uses that phrase is promoting the version that they consider the "true" version; at other times it is simply a recognition of there being multiple versions to choose from. I don't think it's possible to say from that brief interview which meaning the bishop has in mind.

P.P.S. In the context of the utterance in the video, the restrictive clause "who said 'Blessed are ...'" is part of the specification and essential to the distinguishing of this Jesus from some other Jesus (or Jesuses) who did not say those words. And that need not be taken literally to mean that multiple historical persons named Jesus are being distinguished from one another; it can be simply a manner of speaking, a figurative use of the definite article, just as grandpa can say to Billy who won't eat his Wheaties:

Where's the Billy whose favorite cereal is Wheaties?

What you make of the statement from that point on (whether it is a comment critical of people who don't really understand the "real" Jesus, or a reference to the fact of there being multiple views of Jesus in the lives that have survived as gospel or multiple views that have resulted from different interpretations thereof) is a matter of cultural interpretation, not of English grammar.

Answer 2

Your supposition is correct. The use of the definite article is a rhetorical device to indicate that what is being said is the truth because truth is necessarily unique whereas error is manifold.

For Christians, Christianity is supposed to be determined by the meaning of what were the actual words of Jesus. But people differ in how they interpret those words. So the sentence means "something contrary to what I interpret as the meaning of certain words of Jesus." Rhetorically, however, the speaker wants to imply by using the definite article that there is only one correct interpretation, namely the speaker's.

Answer 3

There are several cases where proper nouns can take "the" with some examples here.

In English, you use the article THE with proper nouns:

to emphasize the uniqueness of that entity:

e.g. It's THE Barbra Streisand.

to specify what singular entity you were referring to:

e.g. THE Elvis I got to know was a defeated king.

The specific construction "the Jesus who said" could fit into either category.

It could be clarifying which Jesus said the quote, including disambiguating between multiple presentations associated with the same physical human being. This is the meaning used in Tᴚoɯɐuo's example, as if there is a Trump who is pro tax breaks and another who isn't delivering them.

Alternatively it could presume that the identity in question is perfectly clear and coherent, and be drawing attention to something specific about that person. For example one might say "The President Trump who promised to build a wall can hardly expect a warm welcome in Mexico."

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As a grammatical question, it's also worth noting that there are other constructions with proper nouns and articles not mentioned in the linked page.

Sometimes a definite article is placed between the proper noun and the specification, as in "Pliny the Younger" or "Pope Gregory the Great." (although in these cases the specification might be described as part of the name)

If there is an adjective modifying the proper noun in question, then it could take an article and that article could be definite or indefinite. For example "A discouraged Robert was inspired by watching a spider making his web." or "This puzzle was no match for the crafty Daedalus."