The creator would indeed have been a bungling artist, had he intended man for a social animal, without planting in him social dispositions. It is true they are not planted in every man; because there is no rule without exceptions: but it is false reasoning which converts exceptions into the general rule. Some men are born without the organs of sight, or of hearing, or without hands. Yet it would be wrong to say that man is born without these faculties: and sight, hearing and hands may with truth enter into the general definition of Man.
Thomas Jefferson, "Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Law, 13 June 1814" (1814)
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The creator would indeed have been a bungling artist, had he intended man for a social animal, without planting in him social dispositions. It is true they are not planted in every man; because there is no rule without exceptions: but it is false reasoning which converts exceptions into the general rule. Some men are born without the organs of sight, or of hearing, or without hands. Yet it would be wrong to say that man is born without these faculties: and sight, hearing and hands may with truth enter into the general definition of Man.
Jeremiah Johnston’s “The Jesus Discoveries” walks through ten major archaeological and historical finds that he argues strongly corroborate the New Testament’s picture of Jesus—who he was, when and where he lived, what happened at his death, and why the resurrection is historically credible.
Big idea of the book
Johnston’s core claim is that you can establish a surprising amount about Jesus before you ever open a Bible, purely from artifacts, inscriptions, and early manuscripts. He frames these ten discoveries as evidence that Christianity is rooted in verifiable history rather than myth, aimed both at skeptics and Christians who want intellectually responsible faith.[2][4][5][6][7]
The ten “Jesus discoveries” (high‑level)
Different outlets list them slightly differently, but across descriptions and interviews the key discoveries he highlights include:[3][4][7][8][9][1][2]
Shroud of Turin Johnston treats the shroud as a 1st‑century burial cloth of a crucified man whose image cannot be explained by normal means, arguing it reflects the wounds and crucifixion pattern described in the Gospels and points to the resurrection as a real event.[7][9][2]
Dead Sea Scrolls He uses the scrolls to show how closely the Hebrew Bible behind Jesus’s Scriptures matches our modern Old Testament, reinforcing that Jesus’s Bible and ours are textually connected rather than late theological reconstructions.[10][1][2][7]
“Jesus Cup” (inscribed bowl) Johnston discusses a mid‑1st‑century cup, dated around 50 AD, inscribed in Greek with language describing Jesus as a magician/enchanter, arguing it shows that Jesus’s reputation as a healer and miracle‑worker had spread widely and quickly in the Roman world.[2][10]
James Ossuary He highlights the bone box inscribed “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” as evidence for Jesus’s immediate family and for how early Christians memorialized their dead, though the inscription has been controversial in scholarly circles.[7][10][2]
Magdalen Papyrus and early Gospel manuscripts Johnston points to very early New Testament papyri (like the Magdalen fragments and other early Gospel scraps) to argue that written accounts of Jesus circulated earlier than many skeptics assume and that the text of the Gospels is stable.[4][10][2][7]
Evidence for Pontius Pilate Inscriptions and artifacts bearing Pilate’s name (such as the Pilate stone) are used to show that central Gospel figures and locations are anchored in verifiable Roman history, not legendary invention.[3][10][2][7]
Crucifixion archaeology He uses finds of crucified remains, nails, and Roman execution practices to argue that the Gospels’ description of Jesus’s death matches what we know of Roman crucifixion in the 1st century.[9][2][7]
Major Bible codices and textual witnesses Artifacts like Codex Vaticanus and other great manuscripts are presented as evidence that the New Testament text about Jesus has been carefully preserved, allowing modern readers to access what the earliest Christians believed.[4][9][7]
Early artistic and numismatic portraits of Christ Johnston notes early depictions of Jesus, such as a 7th‑century Justinian II coin that resembles the face on the Shroud, as signs that early Christian iconography may have been influenced by an earlier, widely known image of Christ.[2][7]
Additional inscriptional and archaeological finds The book also gathers other inscriptions and material remains connected to Jesus’s early followers and the world of the New Testament to show that the Jesus story fits tightly within what we know of 1st‑century Judaism and the Roman Empire.[8][1][3][7]
Here’s a compact table so you can see the scope at a glance:
Focus of find
What it is (per Johnston)
What it’s meant to show about Jesus
Shroud of Turin
1st‑century burial cloth with image of a crucified man[2][9]
Reality of crucifixion and resurrection
Dead Sea Scrolls
Ancient Hebrew biblical manuscripts[1][10][7]
Stability of Jesus’s Scriptures
“Jesus Cup”
50 AD inscribed cup referencing Jesus as enchanter[10][2]
Early, wide reputation as healer
James Ossuary
Bone box naming James, Joseph, Jesus[10][2][7]
Historical family of Jesus
Magdalen & other papyri
Very early Gospel manuscript fragments[10][4][7]
Early, stable written Gospels
Pilate inscriptions
Artifacts naming Pontius Pilate[10][2][3]
Gospels rooted in Roman history
Crucifixion remains
Bones, nails, sites of executions[2][9][7]
Historical realism of Passion
Great NT codices
Codex Vaticanus, etc.[9][4][7]
Careful transmission of NT text
Early Christ images/coins
Iconography, Justinian II solidus[2][7]
Possible early “template” for Jesus
Other NT‑world finds
Inscriptions, sites, early churches[1][8][3][7]
Coherence of NT setting and claims
How he uses these discoveries theologically
Johnston argues that these finds collectively allow you to assemble “about 65 facts” regarding Jesus’s birth, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection before opening a Bible, which he says makes Jesus uniquely well attested among religious founders. He positions this as a challenge both to Christian anti‑intellectualism and to skeptical dismissals, suggesting that good historical work strengthens, not weakens, Christian faith.[4][7][2]
One sample “discovery”: the Shroud (as he frames it)
In media interviews, Johnston stresses that the shroud shows wounds consistent with a Roman crucifixion, including nail marks in wrists and ankles and a side wound between ribs five and six, and that newer scientific work (such as WAXS testing) challenges the 1988 medieval carbon‑dating. On that basis he calls it not a “death cloth” but a “resurrection cloth,” arguing that only a supernatural event—Jesus’s bodily resurrection—adequately explains the image.[9][2]
Would you like a critical evaluation of how mainstream scholars view each of these artifacts (e.g., which are widely accepted, which are disputed, and why)?
Sources [1] Dr. Jeremiah Johnston’s The Jesus Discoveries hits New York Times … https://religionnews.com/2026/04/10/dr-jeremiah-johnstons-the-jesus-discoveries-hits-new-york-times-and-usa-today-bestsellers-lists-and-lands-1-spot-on-amazon-books/ [2] New book on archaeological evidence for Jesus rockets … – Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-book-archaeological-evidence-jesus-rockets-top-bestseller-list [3] The Jesus Discoveries – Christian Thinkers Society https://christianthinkers.com/products/the-jesus-discoveries [4] The Jesus Discoveries Audiobook by Jeremiah J. Johnston – Audible https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Jesus-Discoveries-Audiobook/B0GS376H4D [5] My new book The Jesus Discoveries is packed with incredible … https://www.facebook.com/JeremyJJohnston/posts/my-new-book-the-jesus-discoveries-is-packed-with-incredible-images-and-discoveri/10242065733004838/ [6] Jeremiah J. Johnston on Instagram: “This is my new book The Jesus … https://www.instagram.com/p/DWmPGr7EZ49/ [7] The Jesus Discoveries by Jeremiah J. Johnston – PDF VK https://pdfvk.com/books/the-jesus-discoveries/ [8] The Jesus Discoveries – Baker Publishing Group https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9780764243660_the-jesus-discoveries [9] The Ancient Artifacts that CONFIRM the Life of Jesus Christ – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAIby23DYKE [10] New book on archaeological evidence for Jesus rockets to top of … https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/book-archaeological-evidence-jesus-rockets-110017518.html [11] The Jesus Discoveries – Baker Book House https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/9780764243660_the-jesus-discoveries [12] A super quick word from my heart to yours on my new book The … https://www.facebook.com/JeremyJJohnston/videos/a-super-quick-word-from-my-heart-to-yours-on-my-new-book-the-jesus-discoveries-w/1631154111235504/
Richard Rorty, "Postmodernist Bourgeois Liberalism", The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 80, No. 10 (Oct., 1983), pp. 583-589. Reprinted in Postmodernism: A Reader, edited by Thomas Docherty.
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This Jewish and Christian element in our tradition is gratefully invoked by free-loading atheists like myself ... The existence of human rights, in the sense in which it is at issue in this meta-ethical debate, has as much or as little relevance to our treatment of such a child as the question of the existence of God.
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Many are anxious about the rise of generative software marketed as "artificial intelligence": software such as ChatGPT for text, Midjourney for images, Sora for video, and Suno for music. Some have raised concerns about a loss of truth and creativity, or about whole categories of gainful employment being decimated. To be sure, we've all seen our feeds populated by deceptive images and videos and lazy AI slop. There are bound to be many other harmful uses of generative software. Some jobs will be lost, others gained. Nevertheless, I’d like to make a case, from the perspective of a creator and graphic designer, that the anxiety about generative AI is largely unwarranted.
We’ve been living in the lengthening shadow of postmodernism, relativism, subjectivism, and standpoint epistemology since at least the eighties, when I came of age. For the less philosophically inclined, I call it “mytruthism”. Transgenderism is the apotheosis of this spirit. Today I ran across a new term to add to the litany: “cognitive autonomy”. In response to a clever riposte by J.K. Rowling, X poster @zoverions makes the following case.
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John Henry Newman preaches that religious truth cannot simply be passively received; it must be actively pursued and sincerely desired or it will remain obscure and inaccessible. He emphasizes that truth is complex, dispersed across history, and requires persistent effort, humility, and the willingness to change one’s life and habits to apprehend it. Newman also warns that without such seeking, people become susceptible to falsehoods and superficial beliefs, turning away from the transformative power of real truth. Ultimately, Newman insists that a living witness — someone who embodies truth in action — has far greater persuasive power than eloquent arguments alone, as truth is realized and made effective through personal integrity and lived example.
Some things are this, and others are that. Some things are not like the others. We learn this. We know this. We depend upon our ability to discriminate between this and that. In a chaotic world, all is undefined and undifferentiated. Skeptics, subjectivists, and other agents of chaos are wont to undo that fundamental childhood skill of discriminating between spheres and triangles, lions and tigers, and boys and girls. If we are able to measure and cut reality along its seams, the skeptic’s epistemological pessimism is defeated. The subjectivist’s world-making is constrained. Today, for those who want to transcend our innate sexes, fuzzying the lines between male and female is the order of the day. The strategy goes like this. Instead of working from clear cases to understanding edge cases, the chaos agent argues from edge cases to deny there is any order or categories at all. Science News offers a typical example: “Biological Sex Is Not as Simple as Male or Female”. Surveying a variety of developmental sexual disorders and anomalies, Nathan Lents provides the conclusion: “These are not hard categories with clear definitions.”
Professor Henry F. (Fritz) Schaefer is one of the most distinguised physical scientists in the world. The U.S. News and World Report cover story of December 23, 1991 speculated that Professor Schaefer is a “five time nominee for the Nobel Prize. “He has received five of the most prestigious awards of the American Chemical Society, as well as the most highly esteemed award (the Centenary Medal) given to a non-British subject by London’s Royal Society of Chemistry. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Moreover, his general interest lectures on science and religion have riveted large audiences in nearly all the major universities in the U.S.A. and in Beijing, Berlin, Budapest, Calcutta, Cape Town, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, Paris, Prague, Sarajevo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sofia, St. Petersburg, Sydney, Tokyo, Warsaw, Zagreb and Zurich. In the present book, Dr. Schaefer’s university lectures have been expanded to full length essays. Thus we have a first-hand account of the lively current science/Christianity discussions by one of the major participants. Finally, the present book describes why and how Dr. Schaefer became a Christian as a young professor of chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley. Throughout, the books retains the highly personal character of the university lectures, general respect for those with whom the author disagrees, and a delightful sense of humor.
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The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided: men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting: such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to be nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.