India, Oct. 30 -- A disputed passage written by an ancient Jewish historian nearly 2,000 years ago may contain an early account of claims that Jesus appeared alive after his crucifixion, according to a new textual analysis.

The passage, known as the Testimonium Flavianum, appears in Jewish Antiquities, a history of the Jewish people written by Flavius Josephus around AD 93-94. Josephus was not a Christian, making the passage particularly significant in discussions about how early non-Christian writers referred to Jesus.

Spanish independent researcher Jesus Fernandez-Pedrera Correa has examined different versions of the passage to investigate which parts might have originated with Josephus and which could have been altered by later Chris...