T
he man whose birth divides history, and whose life continues to shape the modern world more than any other person, finds his death over 2,000
years ago a matter of continuing con- troversy. Powerful — and some say over- whelming — new evidence indicates that Jesus of Nazareth’s burial cloth, believed to be the Shroud of Turin, is not only real but points to the occur- rence of a supernatural event after his death. Recent analyses of the Shroud us-
ing equipment only modern science can provide, from machines that study deep space to nanoscopic parts of the human cell, are revealing sur- prising information. The ancient 14-foot cloth has long
been revered by Catholics as an icon- ic relic, but a growing number of be- lieving Christians and others see in the Shroud physical proof of not only Jesus’ life and death, but evidence of his claimed resurrection. No longer can these claims be brushed off as just matters of faith. The new science confirms that the
Shroud is not only the burial cloth of a crucified Jewish man who died at the hands of the Romans, but one whose image was captured on fabric in a way that has no known imitation. The forensic evidence also shows
this man’s death was not only consis- tent with the unique characteristics of the Gospel accounts told by Mat- thew, Mark, Luke, and John as to his scourging and crucifixion, but the death took place at or about the time of the Passover in or around the area of the city of Jerusalem. Amazingly, the evidence also dem-
onstrates that the death was typical of how Romans crucified criminals during the same period, based on modern archaeological discoveries.
46 NEWSMAX | APRIL 2023
But there’s still more. As modern technologies have uncovered even new treasures for believers, the man whose image is captured on this lin- en cloth had a burial consistent with the traditions for a Jewish man of Je- sus’ time. French historian Jean-Christian
Petitfils, who has spent four decades studying the Shroud, is convinced that the face depicted on it is indeed that of Jesus of Nazareth in his tomb. Petitfils has analyzed all the
studies ever made on the Shroud, including the carbon-14 study that cast doubt on its authenticity, and published them last year in his The Shroud of Turin: The Definitive In- vestigation (Le Saint Suaire de Turin, l’Enquête Définitive!). “My study is definitive in the
sense that there is such a body of evidence that there is no going back on the discussion of authenticity,” he told the National Catholic Register. “Its authenticity can no longer be disputed.” British filmmaker David Rolfe, an
avowed atheist who has also studied the Shroud for decades, said that working on his movie The Silent Wit- ness in 1978 led him to be convinced of its authenticity. In 2019, Rolfe proclaimed that
“the subjective evidence is obvious to anyone who simply takes the time to look at it with an open mind and just take it in.” Housed today at the Cathedral of
St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, the Shroud reveals the image of a middle-aged man, roughly 5 feet 11 inches tall, who bears a resemblance unmistakably similar to the historic characterization of Jesus — a rela- tively tall, bearded man with Semitic features and long hair. Once considered just a religious
legend, numerous facts point to the Shroud as the genuine burial cloth of the man called Jesus.
A PHOTOGRAPH SPARKS PROBES Worldwide interest in the Shroud only ignited in 1898 after an image of it was captured by Secondo Pia, an Italian amateur photographer. When one looked at the cloth
alone, it appeared as if a faintly painted or burned image of a man was on the fabric. But when Pia examined the actual
photograph, he discovered a remark- ably intrinsic picture of a man with a beard having many visible and spe- cific wounds to his body. The Pia photograph indicated that
the Shroud itself was actually a nega- tive image, as if it had captured on a fabric what one might capture on film. For decades researchers pored over
the Pia image and newer ones, trying to figure out whether the likeness had been painted on the linen or formed some other way while in contact with a dead body. Finally in 1978, a team of experts
was given permission to examine the historic fabric. The study group was named the Shroud of Turin Research Project, or STURP, and included 35 top scientists, among them physicists, chemists, NASA image specialists, electrical engineers, a forensic pathol- ogist, and others. They arrived in Turin with seven
tons of equipment and worked around the clock. The STURP team was granted five days of unchecked access to the Shroud. In 1981, the STURP group issued a stunning and unanimous report:
We can conclude for now that the
Shroud image is that of a real human form of a scourged, crucified man. It is not the product of an artist. The bloodstains are composed of hemo- globin and also give a positive test for serum albumin. The image is an ongo- ing mystery, and until further chemi- cal studies are made, perhaps by this
SVETLANA VOROTNIAK/SHUTTERSTOCK
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