The Shroud of Turin

One of the most googled terms around Christmas time is the Shroud of Turin. The Shroud of Turin (or Turin Shroud) is a linen cloth believed to be the cloth placed over Jesus following his crucifixion at the time of his burial. Now, with the History channel's episode reconstructing the face of Jesus from the shroud using new, state of the art technology, the most accurate depiction of Jesus the man is about to be revealed.

I find this to be a fascinating phenomenon, and have devoted this lens to exploring the Shroud of Turin that bears the face of Jesus of Nazareth.

While some people contend that the shroud is the actual cloth placed in the tomb of Jesus at the time of his burial, others consider it medieval fakery. Indeed, the shroud has been the topic of intense debate among scientists, people of faith, historians, and writers. There has been no consensus regarding where, when, and how the shroud and its images were created.

Nonetheless, Catholics believe it to be the real thing. In 1958 Pope Pius XII approved of the image in association with the Roman Catholic devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus, celebrated every year on Shrove Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras, where I come from.

Of course, a number of scientific tests were conducted on the shroud. Radiocarbon dating, a popular and relatively accurate means of determining the age of a given object, was done in 1988 by three independent teams of scientists yielding results that indicated the shroud was made during the Middle Ages, approximately 1300 years after Jesus lived.

As to be expected, these results were scrutinized and further testing commenced on the shroud in an effort to validate its authenticity. These results are also the subject to methodological criticism; hence, the debate continues.

Hmm, then is it really the shroud of Jesus of Nazareth? If not, then who is it?

Pictured is a full-length photograph of the Shroud of Turin which is said to have been the cloth placed on Jesus at the time of his burial.