English

Noun

Jesuses

1. plural of Jesus
   • 1854, Johann Lorenz, Historical Commentaries on the State of Christianity, S. Converse 1854, page 311:

     The Manichaeans had two Jesuses, an impassive and a passive, a Savior of souls and a Savior of bodies.

   • 1972, Andrew M. Greeley, The Denominational Society: A Sociological Approach to Religion in America‎, page 106:

     Witchcraft, voodoo, black magic, and sorcery may not play prominent parts in American religion, but faith healing and miracle working are extremely important - to such an extent that they, too, have tended to become organized and institutionalized, much to the horror of the more liberal religionists who are aghast at plastic Jesuses on automobiles and towers of faith at Oral Roberts University.

   • 1996, Rick Reilly, Missing Links, page 59:

     One Christmas, he talked me into going around town stealing all the baby Jesuses out of creche scenes. We had Jesuses that lit up from underneath and Jesuses whose crowns lit up and Jesuses whose hands and feet moved. We had porcelain Jesuses and plastic Jesuses and wooden Jesuses...

   • 2003, Richard G Walsh, Reading the Gospels in the Dark, Continuum International 2003, page 182:

     His Jesus, who has important precursors in the Jesuses of Jewison and Greene, is embarrassingly riven and indecisive.

   • 2005, George Aichele et al., Those Outside, Continuum International 2005, page 43:

     This interest comes in part from living in the southern United States and being surrounded by various Jesuses, from the fiery cosmic judge of the immanent end time of the Pentecostal denominations to the more distant enthroned high priest in liturgical garb and voice of the higher church traditions.

Usage notes

Care should be taken to establish context when using this term as some Christians find the notion of more than one Jesus to be blasphemous.