The Shroud Of Turin: Evidence For The Resurrection? Coral Ridge Ministries -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Bible and Spade (Second Run)
Volume: BSPADE 08:2 (Spring 1995)
Article: The Shroud Of Turin: Evidence For The Resurrection? Coral Ridge Ministries
Author: Anonymous


The Shroud Of Turin:
Evidence For The Resurrection?
Coral Ridge Ministries

Like a silent witness to history, it rests, rolled in red satin in a jewelled box inside a lead case at the cathedral in Turin, Italy. It is a 14-foot linen burial cloth which bears the detailed front and back image of a naked man who has undergone a horrible death by crucifixion. A puncture wound is evident in his left wrist, as are severe scourge marks from head to foot. Some say it is a clever medieval forgery; others believe it is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.

For Shroud researchers Dr. Alan Whanger and his wife Mary, a “mountain of evidence” points in just one direction. “We are convinced,” says Dr. Whanger, a psychiatrist and surgeon now retired from the Duke University Medical Center, “that this is indeed the image of Jesus and was left to us as a witness to His life.” After studying the Shroud for 15 years, the Whangers believe its unique properties provide scientific proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At the very least, Dr. Whanger says, “it provides scientific proof that something so extraordinary happened that there doesn’t seem to be anything else in human history that would fit.”

That astonishing claim contradicts a well-publicized 1988 carbon-14 test that dated the Shroud to medieval times. But the evidence to support the Whangers’ contention includes:

  • The Shroud is a photographic negative, meaning light and dark parts of the image are reversed, a unique condition recognized in 1898 when the Shroud was photographed for the first time.
  • Computer imaging indicates that the Shroud has three-dimensional characteristics, considered impossible to reproduce artistically.
  • Except for trace amounts unrelated to the image, no pigment exists on the Shroud to indicate it is an artistic forgery.
  • The Shroud is anatomically correct, far surpassing medieval knowledge of the human body.
  • While nearly all medieval artists inaccurately depicted Christ’s nail wound in His hand, the Shroud image shows a puncture wound in the wrist, the actual manner in which Roman crucifixions occurred.

Face image on the Shroud of Turin

  • Coins discovered over both eyes, using a NASA-developed image analyzer, have been identified as leptons, struck in Israel in AD 29.
  • While the earliest Shroud documentation only dates to 1360, artistic renditions of the face of Jesus from the fifth century on bear striking resemblance to the Shroud face, indicating its earlier existence and acceptance as an image of Jesus Christ.
  • Although the media trumpeted the 1988 test indicating the Shroud...
    You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
    Click here to subscribe
    visitor : : uid: ()