Today in News History
On July 13, several notable moments in the history of News stand out. In 574, John III, pope of the Catholic Church passed away. In 1357, Bartolus de Saxoferrato Italian academic and jurist (born 1313) passed away. In 1527, John Dee, English-Welsh mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer (died 1609) was born. In 1629, Caspar Bartholin the Elder, Swedish physician and theologian (born 1585) passed away. In 1934, Wole Soyinka, Nigerian author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate was born. In 1960, Joy Davidman, American-English poet and author (born 1915) passed away. In 1967, Tom Simpson, English cyclist (born 1937) passed away. In 2014, Alfred de Grazia, American political scientist, author, and academic (born 1919) passed away. In 2017, Liu Xiaobo, Chinese literary critic, human rights activist (born 1955) passed away. In 2024, President of the United States Donald Trump is injured in an assassination attempt while speaking at an election campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania. Together, these milestones provide historical context for today's news news and ongoing narratives.
'If indeed one ought to call him a man': New study shows 'historical' Jesus had bigger impact than we thought
Narrative Analysis: Testimonial
For more than a century, mainstream historians — Christian and non-Christian alike — have largely agreed on one point: Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical figure.The enduring debates concern something else entirely. Who did Jesus claim to be? What can history tell us about His life? And how should historians interpret the handful of ancient, non-Christian sources that mention Him?That small change significantly alters the tone of the passage, allowing Josephus to report what Jesus' followers believed without personally endorsing their claims.One of those sources has long stood at the center of scholarly debate.And in this time there was a certain Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man ...Those famous words come from the first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. For generations, however, many scholars have argued that portions of the passage were embellished by later Christian copyists, making it difficult to know exactly what Josephus originally wrote.A new book argues historians have been too skeptical.A more extraordinary Jesus?In Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ, Yale-trained historian T.C. Schmidt contends that Josephus' famous Testimonium Flavianum — his longer account of Jesus — is substantially more authentic than many scholars have believed. If Schmidt is correct, one of history's most important non-Christian accounts portrays Jesus as a more extraordinary figure than the prevailing scholarly consensus has assumed.That would not overturn the historical case for Jesus, which already rests on multiple ancient sources. Rather, it could strengthen historians' confidence in one of antiquity's earliest and most important independent accounts of Jesus' life, execution, and the remarkable movement He inspired.Among skeptics and believers alike, historians have long looked beyond Scripture when evaluating the historical Jesus.As New Testament scholar John P. Meier has observed, The implication is that the biblical evidence for Jesus is biased because it is encased in a theological text written by committed believers. What they really want to know is: Is there extra-biblical evidence ... for Jesus' existence?Mainstream historians have long answered that question in the affirmative.Tacitus: No friend to ChristianityOne important witness comes from Roman historian, senator, and ethnographer Tacitus, who flourished in the late first and early second centuries, well within living memory of the end of Jesus Christ's earthly life.In his Annals of Imperial Rome, Tacitus, who was no friend to Christianity, makes a reference to Jesus Christ that teaches the reader multiple facts about Christ from an outsider's perspective.The passage appears amid Tacitus' account of the burning of Rome under Emperor Nero in 64 A.D. The full passage (in the Michael Grant translation) reads:But neither human resources, nor imperial munificence, nor appeasement of the gods, eliminated sinister suspicions that the fire had been instigated. To suppress the rumour, Nero fabricated scapegoats — and punished with every refinement the notoriously depraved Christians (as they were popularly called). Their originator, Christ, had been executed in Tiberius' reign by the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilatus. But in spite of this temporary setback, the deadly superstition had broken out afresh, not only in Judea (where the mischief had started) but even in Rome. All degraded and shameful practices collect in the capital.(Grant notes that this is the only mention in pagan Latin of Pontius Pilate's action.)This not only confirms the spreading influence of Christianity over the region and beyond; it also places Jesus Christ in the correct time and place according to biblical sources and tradition, and crucially, it connects Him with Pontius Pilate.Josephus: 2 accountsJosephus provides another crucial witness.His brief reference to James, the brother of Jesus who was called Christ, found in Book 20 of Jewish Antiquities, has long been accepted by most historians as authentic. As biblical scholar Lawrence Mykytiuk notes, the reference only serves its purpose of identifying James if Josephus expected his readers to recognize Jesus as a real historical figure.But Josephus contains a second — and far more famous — reference to Jesus.RELATED: The Trinity answers the Bible’s central question DeAgostini/Getty ImagesKnown as the Testimonium Flavianum, Josephus' longer account of Jesus has occupied scholars for generations because portions of the text appear unusually favorable toward Christianity.Traditionally, scholars have proposed three possibilities.The first is that the entire passage is a later Christian forgery.The second is that Josephus wrote it substantially as we have it today.The third — and for many years the dominant scholarly position — is that Josephus wrote a genuine core that was later embellished by Christian scribes.Schmidt argues that historians have underestimated Josephus.'He was thought to be the Christ'Drawing on Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Armenian textual traditions, he contends that the Testimonium has survived with remarkably little alteration. According to Schmidt, the text has lost only two or three words, while the overwhelming majority of the passage is authentically Josephus.He also argues that early Greek-speaking Christians themselves often treated the passage not as a confession of Christian faith but as a neutral — or even mildly skeptical — description of Jesus, making extensive Christian editing less likely than many scholars have assumed.One of Schmidt's most important arguments concerns a famous line traditionally translated, He was the Christ.According to Schmidt, the earliest textual evidence points instead toward a more cautious reading:He was thought to be the Christ.That small change significantly alters the tone of the passage, allowing Josephus to report what Jesus' followers believed without personally endorsing their claims.Schmidt also argues that Josephus' distinctive writing style appears consistently throughout the passage and that Josephus was uniquely positioned to know reliable information about Jesus, given his family connections and familiarity with Jerusalem's political and priestly elite.An invitationSchmidt ultimately invites readers to reconsider the Testimonium Flavianum in light of this evidence.His reconstructed text reads:And in this time there was a certain Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man, for he was a doer of incredible deeds. ... He was thought to be the Christ ... on the third day it seemed to them that he was alive again ...If Schmidt is correct, the significance extends beyond textual criticism.Rather than simply reinforcing the already broad scholarly consensus that Jesus existed, Schmidt argues that one of history's most important non-Christian historians may have offered a richer — and more authentic — portrait of Jesus than generations of scholars have assumed.Instead of merely mentioning Jesus in passing, Josephus describes Him as a wise teacher, a worker of remarkable deeds, a man who drew large crowds, whose execution under Pontius Pilate failed to extinguish His movement, and whose followers remained convinced that He had risen from the dead.Whether Schmidt ultimately persuades the scholarly community remains to be seen. His work does not seek to settle the historical Jesus debate so much as reopen one of its most important textual questions.It is, instead, an invitation — for believers and nonbelievers alike — to reconsider whether historians have underestimated the authenticity and significance of antiquity's most important non-Christian account of Jesus Christ.A free online version of Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ is available here.
Narrative Intelligence Brief
This article was published by Conservative Review, a source frequently categorized with a right bias based in United States of America. Our narrative intelligence engine continuously monitors coverage from this outlet to track framing, bias, and rhetorical patterns. In this specific piece, our systems detected the potential use of the "Testimonial" technique. This narrative approach is often used to shape reader perception by highlighting specific emotional or rhetorical angles. By understanding the editorial perspective of Conservative Review, readers can better contextualize the information presented and compare it across our broader media matrix to find the real narrative.
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Technique: Testimonial
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This narrative analysis was generated using the CoDataLab Global Intelligence Engine. Our proprietary AI scans thousands of cross-border sources to identify sentiment patterns, framing techniques, and potential media bias. While AI provides the data-driven foundation, our objective is to empower readers with additional context beyond the standard headline.The content displayed above is a structured summary designed for rapid information processing. For the full original report, please visit the source outlet.More Coverage
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How other outlets are covering this story
Compare narratives across 38 related reports from 38 sources. Real Narrative News aggregates the coverage spectrum so you can see who emphasises what — bias tags reflect the outlet, not the story.
Coverage bias distribution
38 sources
Left 34%
Center 16%
Right 45%
Fark
· Jun 21, 2026
His own / personal / giant / Jesus [Facepalm]
[link] [30 comments]
National Post
· Jun 23, 2026
Beryl Wajsman: Michel Mizrahi moved from Israel to Montreal only to lose his life to a Canadian terrorist
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· Jun 21, 2026
Color him father
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Mindanao Times
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Crisis Magazine
· Jun 29, 2026
Dead Fathers
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· Jun 22, 2026
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· Jun 21, 2026
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The Root
· Jun 21, 2026
My Father Taught Me How to Survive. Now, We Must Learn How to Fight
This Father's Day, I'm remembering the words of my late father: Keep fighting, son. Don't you ever stop fighting.
Topics:
Related coverage for "'If indeed one ought to call him a man': New study shows 'historical' Jesus had bigger impact than we thought": Fark — His own / personal / giant / Jesus [Facepalm]. National Post — Beryl Wajsman: Michel Mizrahi moved from Israel to Montreal only to lose his life to a Canadian terrorist. Powerline — Color him father. Open Culture — Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebooks, Separated for 400 Years, Have Been Reunited and Put Online. Mindanao Times — BOOK REVIEW: Witnessing: Three Decades of Faith. Gizmodo — What Would Jesus Do? Invest in Palantir, Apparently. Conservative Review — Bloomswary. ArcaMax — Kelly Osbourne tells fans she 'aches' for her dad in heartbreaking Father' Day tribute to Ozzy Osbourne. Daily Mail — QUENTIN LETTS: Cliche-spouting Starmer was mediocrity in a suit. One of history's feeblest non-entity PMs, only we sketch writers will miss him.... Portside — How Becoming a Dad Changes Men’s Brains. Global News — Clive Davis, music industry executive, dead at 94. Catholic World Report — Priest explains how to read the Bible without getting lost in the process. Imprimis — “There’s a ladder that reaches up toward God”. Curbed — What Is Billy Eichner’s NYQ?. FaithWire — Is Gen Z on Fire for Jesus? New Survey Offers Fascinating Insights. The Daily Signal — ‘Men Matter’: HHS Highlights Fatherhood and Men Throughout June. The Big Issue — Frank Cottrell-Boyce: ‘Being the children’s laureate can be very uplifting and very depressing’. Inc.com — Fueled by ‘the Beauty of Making Things’: Curtis Hartman, a Founding Journalist at Inc., Has Died at 78. TwistedSifter — “He Tried to Dictate Everything”: Family Vacation Erupts Into Chaos After Overbearing Patriarch Pushes His Grown Son to the Absolute Edge. Law & Liberty — A National House in Disorder. Daily Reckoning — Jim Rickards on Faith and Family. Le Monde — Legendary music pioneer Clive Davis, who made Whitney Houston a megastar, has died at 94. Upworthy — The two signs someone is incredibly intelligent, according to philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Irish News — Bestselling romance author Mike Gayle: What it’s like to be a man in a world of female fiction. Vanguard News — I’ve been a thief, made many foolish mistakes — Charlie Boy . DNyuz — ‘There Was Love, and Then There Was Suffering’: A Q&A With Christian Wiman. The New American — King Charles’ Multi-faith Stance. The Daily Wire — The Surprising Gift Strong Fathers Give Their Kids. Right Wing Watch — George Washington, Faith Healer. Bloomberg — Greenspan’s Legacy Is as Convoluted as His Words. Irish Mirror — Garda goes on trial accused of child cruelty of his children and raping his wife. Times of India — Quote of the day by Benjamin Graham: "But investing isn't about beating others at their game. It's about…" - the timeless wisdom of the man who taught Warren Buffett. Attack the System — Eternal Justice as the Emulsion of Nondualism and Dualism: Schopenhauer’s Descriptive Appropriation of Incompatible Vedic Philosophies. Aish — The Anthropologist Deconstructing Antizionism. Crisis Magazine — Dead Fathers. EUobserver — Will Starmer’s successor keep working on the UK Brexit ‘reset’?. Arutz Sheva — Father of fallen Soldier Staff sergeant Nave Habshoosh: 'Everyone loved him'. The Root — My Father Taught Me How to Survive. Now, We Must Learn How to Fight