Translation-Variant Disclosure Record

PROBLEM: One word changes the meaning of a whole passage. In the Testimonium Flavianum, "He was the Christ" is a confession no non-Christian Jew would write; "He was thought to be the Christ" is a report of what others believed, which a non-Christian historian could write. The variant sat in the Latin and Syriac manuscripts for centuries while the Greek wording dominated the debate. Translations that hide their variants hide the argument.

SOLUTION: A translation-variant disclosure record: every published translation of a disputed passage logged with its variant readings, the manuscripts behind each reading, and the date of each witness — so no reader is shown one wording as if it were the only wording.

EVIDENCE BASIS: DOCUMENTED — Schmidt (2025): Latin and Syriac manuscripts of the Testimonium Flavianum (AD 300s) read "believed to be / thought to be the Christ," against the Greek "He was the Christ"; a Latin or Syriac Christian copyist would not demote Jesus, so the doubtful form is plausibly original.