The Shroud of Turin has fascinated believers and skeptics for centuries. This linen cloth bears the faint image of a man who appears to have been crucified – complete with wounds that match the Gospel accounts of Jesus Christ’s death. For some, it is the most sacred object in Christianity as it marks the exact moment that Jesus was resurrected. Others have insisted that the shroud is a medieval forgery. Until recently, there was no definitive evidence either way. That changed this year.
First a bit of history. In 1988, three laboratories in Oxford, Zurich, and Arizona used radiocarbon dating on a small strip from one corner of the shroud, and they concluded that the cloth dated to between AD 1260 and 1390. Western media immediately pounced on the story, eager to declare the Shroud a forgery.
But the science has not turned out to be quite as solid as they hoped, and recent work by Italian physicist Professor Liberato De Caro has thrown that medieval date out the window.
Cracks in the Carbon-14
The first problem with the 1988 test was its sample location: all the material came from a single corner, right next to a seam. This area had been handled frequently over the centuries and appeared to have been repaired with different threads after fire damage in 1532.
In 2013, statisticians Marco Riani and Anthony Atkinson re-examined the original Carbon-14 data and found that the dates varied along the strip in a way that suggested the dating of the corner was not a reliable estimate for the date of the entire cloth. In 2019, researcher Tristan Casabianca from the University of Hamburg obtained the raw lab data and confirmed these inconsistencies.
Historian, Jean-Christian Petitfils, who has studied the Shroud for more than 40 years, discussed the post-1988 findings in his new book, ‘The Shroud of Turin: The Definitive Investigation’. “Traces of fungus and calcium carbonate were found. The sample area corresponded to a sewn area: modern threads were inserted in the 16th century in order to repair this area that had been worn away.” He concluded “ The Carbon-14 experiment of 1988 is null and void.”
Trust The Science
Since Carbon-14 dating could not be relied upon to provide a valid date for the Shroud, Professor De Caro approached the dating problem differently. Instead of measuring radioactive carbon, he used wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), which examines the microscopic structure of cellulose in linen fibers.
Over time, the crystalline regions in cellulose break down in predictable ways. By measuring this structural change and comparing it to samples of known age, WAXS can estimate very accurately how long the fibers have been aging since they were woven. Unlike carbon dating, this method is unaffected by surface contamination because it probes the fiber’s internal structure itself.
De Caro Findings
In 2022, De Caro’s team analyzed a fiber from the Shroud and compared it to linen samples from various periods, including cloth from Masada in Israel dated to the first century AD. When the fiber was analyzed by a powerful X-ray machine, the scientists were astounded at the result that emerged. The Shroud did not originate, as has long been thought, in the 13th century, but from the 1st century AD.
In age, it matched a similar shred of linen that came from the siege of Masada in 73 AD, when a band of Jews who had sought sanctuary on a sheer-sided outcrop in the desert were besieged by the Roman army. Rather than wait to be killed by the advancing legions, they took their own lives en masse. The scrap of cloth from Masada has been dated to 55–74 AD.
“There was a sense of joy, of shock,” says Prof De Caro. “Why? Because we had verified that it could be authentic. We know for sure that the sample from the fortress of Masada is 2,000 years old. The results from the Turin Shroud sample were almost identical. The direct comparison verified that the Turin Shroud sample is 2,000 years old.”
The Image That Science Can’t Explain
Even before De Caro’s work, the Shroud’s image posed a puzzle. In 1978, the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) studied it directly and concluded:
- The image is not paint, dye, or scorch.
- Discoloration is confined to the outermost fibrils of each thread—less than a thousandth of a millimeter deep.
- The image lies above the bloodstains, meaning the blood was deposited before the image.
- The light-dark shading in the image encodes precise 3D information, unlike any known art technique.
Blood chemistry tests determined that the stains were Type AB human blood with hemoglobin breakdown products and high bilirubin which would be expected from an individual who had undergone severe trauma.
Above??
One of these findings is worth further comment. The researchers in 1978 determined that the image on the Shroud was formed above the blood stains, meaning that the image was formed ‘after’ the blood stains on the cloth had been deposited. This means that, for the Shroud to be considered a forgery, the forger would have had to apply human blood in over 700 locations across the Shroud first, and then later somehow fit the image of the body to the cloth in perfect correspondence with the of blood stains already applied, some of which were smaller than a millimeter in size.
Light on the Subject
So what did form the image of the body on the cloth? The hypothesis that best matches the findings of the 1978 study is that that the image was formed by a brief burst of high-energy radiation from the body onto the cloth. This would account for the fact that the image is only on the top surface of the fibers, not extending further into the cloth as paints or stains would have done. Physicist Paulo Delazo at ENEA Laboratories outside Rome spent five years attempting to duplicate the chemical changes seen in the Shroud on linen fibers using radiation. He concluded that a radiation burst of 34 billion watts of energy at 1/40 of a billionth of a second could create an image on linen similar to the one seen on the Shroud.
Other researchers noted that such a radiation event would also have altered the cloth’s carbon isotope ratio, further skewing the 1988 dating results.
Threads of Time
Additional evidence further points to the authenticity of the shroud. The Shroud’s weave is a fine herringbone twill unknown in Medieval Europe. Textile expert Mechthild Flury-Lemberg, who oversaw a 2002 conservation project, noted that the seam along one edge is similar to first-century Jewish burial cloths from Masada near the Dead Sea in Israel. In addition, recent image-enhancement technology revealed that there were coins placed over the eyes of the subject on the Shroud that were identified as first-century Roman lepton coins, minted under Pontius Pilate between 29 and 32 AD.
An Emerging Picture
Put the evidence together and a consistent story begins to emerge:
- Dating – WAXS points to the first century; the 1988 carbon date is undermined by sampling flaws.
- Image formation – The properties of the image fit a high-energy event that cannot be duplicated, even with today’s technology.
- Textile details – Weave and seam construction match first-century examples.
- Pollen deposits – Pollen species from the Levant area of Israel that are not present in any part of Europe.
The only explanation that matches all the scientific and historical evidence is that the Shroud is, in fact, the burial cloth of Jesus Christ and that the image documents the very moment of his resurrection.
Not an Unfamiliar Concept
While the notion of Jesus’ body lighting up with high energy radiation may seem difficult for many to believe in this modern age, it is actually a familiar concept to Christians. A similar event is recorded in the Gospels:
Matthew 17:
1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.
7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”
8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
The Meaning of The Shroud
The word ‘miracle’ is tossed about so commonly today that it has pretty much lost any meaning. To many, the Mets winning the 1969 World Series is still considered the most astonishing miracle of our time.
But the word does have a meaning. It is an event that is impossible according to the laws of physics but nevertheless does happen. Can any other artifact in history claim such a convincing right to this word after generations of scientific study and scrutiny?
Why Then?
During the ministry of Jesus his focus was on communicating the word of God to the Jews to whom Jesus had been sent. In order to demonstrate his credibility as a messenger of God, Jesus performed many miracles in front of the people. The miracles established his authority to speak for God as well as the validity of his message to the Jewish people. This is clearly expressed in John 14:11:
“Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”
Toward the end of his three year ministry, Jesus expressed astonishment that the Jews of his day did not respond to his teachings.
But a more fundamental question needs to be asked. Why was Jesus sent to the Jews at that particular time in their history? Stand back a bit, view the larger context, and the story becomes clear.
Following the crucifixion of Jesus (ca. 33 AD), Jews in Judea lived under increasingly harsh Roman rule. Tensions escalated as Roman authorities suppressed Jewish religious practices and imposed heavy taxes, while Jewish resistance movements grew. This culminated in the First Jewish–Roman War (66–70 AD), during which Jerusalem was besieged and the Second Temple destroyed in 70 AD. A later revolt, the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–135 AD), was crushed with extraordinary brutality by Emperor Hadrian’s forces. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed, survivors enslaved, and Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina to erase its Jewish identity. Jews were banned from entering Jerusalem except on one day a year (Tisha B’Av), marking the effective expulsion and dispersion (Diaspora) of the Jewish people from their homeland.
When viewed within the context of history it becomes clear why God sent his son to the Jewish people at that moment in time. It was an attempt to save them from the horrific tragedy that God knew awaited them at the hands of the Romans. God saw what was in the future for the Jewish people and he sent his son to guide them toward a path that would have spared them from that tragic fate.
Would the Jews have been spared the wrath of the Romans had they accepted the message of Jesus? An entire book could be written (and probably has been) on that subject alone. But a central pillar of the teachings of Jesus was clearly his instruction that they should avoid confrontation, aggression, hatred, revenge, and violence, and express a willingness to pursue peace and forgiveness:
“If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them”. Luke 6:29.
If the Jews had responded to Roman aggression as Jesus taught, would they not have escaped the genocide that the Romans eventually inflicted on them?
This message is perfectly encapsulated in a well known passage in the Gospels:
But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. ‘Which of the two do you want me to release to you?’ asked the governor. ‘Barabbas,’ they answered. ‘What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ Pilate asked. They all shouted, ‘Crucify him.’ Matthew 27:20–22
Who was Barabbas? Why was he a prisoner of Pilate? Barabbas was an insurrectionist fighting Roman rule. As such, there can be little doubt that when he was released by Pilate he went right back to his battle against the Romans. Barabbas would have certainly taken part in the Jewish resistance during the 33 years between the crucifixion and the first Jewish-Roman war of 66 AD.
Would there have been a Jewish-Roman war had Barabbas not been released? How large a part did Barabbas play in the Jewish resistance that led up to that war? No one will ever know. That information is lost to history.
So, what does any of this have to do with the Shroud of Turin?
Back up and examine the story from a broader perspective. God sent his Son to the Jewish people in an effort to save them from the catastrophe that awaited them. Since that time, no one has performed a single miracle on earth, at least not one that has been scientifically scrutinized and proven to be real. And yet today, this year, Jesus has given the world one more miracle in the form of scientific proof that the Shroud and the image on it are authentic.
Why now?
God is giving us this miracle today for the same reason he gave the Jews the miracles performed by Jesus long ago. Just as in the time of Jesus, the world today sits at the precipice of an apocalyptic catastrophe, worse than anything humanity has ever endured in its history. Nuclear war could break out at any moment, and if it did it would mean the end of the human race itself.
The message is clear for those who are willing to understand it. In a very real sense, God sent his son to us a second time. The message to us is, ‘Here, I gave you a miracle that you may believe. Now hear my words and follow them’.
The question is, will we listen this time?
This article was originally published on Trust The Science.
The post The Message of the Shroud appeared first on LewRockwell.