Is it or isn’t it? New evidence suggests the controversial Shroud of Turin may be Christ’s burial cloth after all.
Italian scientists used new X-ray technology to examine linen threads from the shroud that could date the burial cloth’s origin to 2,000 years ago. However, researchers in the late 20th century used carbon dating that indicated the cloth was produced during medieval times and was, therefore, an elaborate forgery.
About the Shroud
At nearly 15 feet long, the Shroud of Turin bears the faint image of a gaunt, 5-foot 7-inch man whose body was apparently laid on its back in a lengthwise position. The cloth looks as if it was doubled over the head to cover the front of the body, per Britannic.
Interestingly, the image appears to correspond to Christ’s crucifixion wounds, including thorn marks on the head, gashes from a possible flogging on the back, bruises on the shoulders, and stains that might be blood on both sides of the cloth.
Christ’s Burial Cloth?
The relic’s authenticity has been debated for centuries. It was discovered in the possession of a famous knight named Geoffroi de Charnay in around 1354. But no one knows where or how he obtained it.
When the shroud was first exhibited in 1389, the local bishop — Pierre d’Arcis of Troyes – labeled it a forgery. He called it “cunningly painted” and claimed an artist had taken credit for creating it. But modern researchers have found no traces of paint on the cloth.
While the bishop dismissed it as a fake, the Avignon antipope Clement VII sanctioned its use as an object of devotion providing it was exhibited as an “image or representation” of Christ’s burial cloth, per Britannica. He didn’t, however, vouch for its authenticity. But subsequent popes did accept it as Christ’s burial cloth.
The shroud experienced an active history in the 15th and 16th centuries. Geoffroi de Charney’s granddaughter presented it to the house of Savoy at Chambery in 1453. It was damaged by fire and water several decades later. Finally in 1578, it was moved to Turin’s Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista, where it currently resides.
Public exhibitions are rare. Pope John Paul II permitted an exhibition in 1998 and 2000, and Pope Benedict XVI allowed another one in 2010. More recently, Pope Francis allowed a viewing in 2015 that was attended by two million visitors from around the world.
Test After Test
Few if any relics have been subjected to as much testing as the Shroud of Turin. Let’s take a look at some of the examinations.
What Carbon-14 Dating Revealed:
Scientists have been interested in studying the shroud since 1898 when a photographer discovered sepia-tone images on the cloth. The images sparked interest because they were reminiscent of photographic negatives rather than positives.
“Beginning in the 1970s, tests were made to determine whether the images were the result of paints (or other pigments), scorches, or other agents; none of the tests proved conclusive,” Britannica says.
“In 1988 the Vatican provided three laboratories in different countries with postage-stamp-sized pieces of the shroud’s linen cloth. Having subjected these samples to carbon-14 dating, all three laboratories concluded that the cloth of the shroud had been made sometime between 1260 and 1390, thus indicating it was inauthentic.”
However other scientists cast doubt on the researchers’ methodology, and the Vatican encouraged experts to conduct additional studies. The Church also recommended that Christians continue to venerate the burial cloth as an inspiring image of Christ.
Contradictory Findings from DNA Testing:
In 1995, DNA samples extracted from dust particles vacuumed from the shroud indicated that numerous people had “touched or otherwise left traces of their DNA” on the relic. “The detection of such a variety of DNA sources is extremely valuable,” the science and technology journal Nature reports.
Examination of the DNA also revealed that these people belonged to different ethnic groups from Europe, north and east Africa, the Middle East and India. This finding aligns with a scenario involving a long journey from the Near East, although it’s also compatible with the theory that thousands of worshippers came into contact with the cloth in France and Italy over the centuries.
New Research Involving Plants:
Some plant species detected in new research are native to Mediterranean countries and widespread in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Consequently, they are compatible with a medieval origin as well as the Near East theories.
But other plants that scientists detected originate in eastern Asia and the Americas and weren’t introduced in Europe until after medieval times. Scientists said the plant species “are compatible with the scenario that the linen cloth was exposed to different locations across the Mediterranean area,” Nature explained.
The most abundant plant species that scientists found was spruce, which typically grows in the Carpathian highlands and the Alps. “This discovery is in accord with the transport of (the shroud) through the French-Italian Alps in 1578 when the relic was moved from Chambery to Turin.”
In other words, studies on plant species were not conclusive. But then, no scientific studies have definitely explained how the image on the shroud was created.
The New Research
So, we return to the latest research, which uses new X-ray technology to investigate the possibility that the shroud is Christ’s burial cloth.
“The experimental results are compatible with the hypothesis that the Turin Shroud is a 2,000-year-old relic,” per Britannica. However, these findings do not prove that the linen was specifically Christ’s burial cloth. It might have been used in Christ’s burial, or it might have covered the body of someone else.
Scientists who conducted the most recent research “used wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) to analyze a small piece of the shroud. The study concluded that the structural degradations of the linen were ‘fully compatible’ with those of another linen sample that has been dated, according to historical records, to 55-75 CE.
Why do the latest findings contradict earlier studies? Scientists involved in the new research suggest that environmental carbon contamination is the source of the discrepancies.
The Catch
But there’s a catch. Scientists say, “The shroud can conclusively be said to be 20 centuries old only if there is further evidence showing the relic was kept safely at an average temperature of 22C (71.6F) and relative humidity of around 55 percent for 13 centuries before it emerged,” according to The Independent, an online British news source.
Will scientists ever determine whether the Shroud of Turin is an elaborate fake or the real burial cloth of Christ? No one can say – yet – but millions of people continue to be fascinated by its unfolding story.
Is It or Isn’t It?
In the end, it shouldn’t matter whether this piece of linen is Christ’s burial cloth. It’s an object of interest to millions of Christians, but it isn’t – or shouldn’t – be the reason we accept Christ. And it should never be an object of worship.
If the Shroud of Turin makes you feel closer to Christ, good. If it motivates you to learn more about Christ, even better. And if your journey leads to acceptance of the Christian faith, Christians should welcome you with open arms.
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