Shroud of Turin News, January - June 2024

© Stephen E. Jones[1]

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This is my Shroud of Turin News for January - June 2024. My words are bold to distinguish them from the articles'.

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"Leading apologist takes part in Shroud of Turin film, releases first volume in new work on the resurrection," Liberty University, Christian Shields, 26 January 2024. ... Professor Dr. Gary Habermas [Right (enlarge).], an esteemed apologist and recognized expert on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ ... recently provided his expertise for filmmaker Robert Orlando's new documentary "Shroud of Turin: Face to Face," [Below (enlarge)] about the famous artifact that has been the object of scientists and researchers worldwide for decades. The mysterious figure on the linen, along with blood stains, are used as evidence that it was once a burial cloth — and many have set out to prove that the markings, which correspond to crucifixion wounds, are those of Jesus Christ. The film was released in November ... Habermas said Christian scientists believe that the famous images on the centuries-old cloth are due to an excessive amount of radiation only made possible by a supernatural resurrection. I don't agree with the "excessive amount of radiation," unless by "radiation" is meant light. Luke's account of The Transfiguration in Lk 9:28-31:

28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure,[Greek exodus] which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem."

coupled with Mt 17:2, "he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun," indicates that The Transfiguration was a prefiguration of Jesus' resurrection, when his body would emit intense light... The film takes a scientific approach to analyze various characteristics of the shroud through digital technology and includes expert interviews to determine its significance to Christ and His burial. ... Habermas has cowritten two books on the shroud, ("Verdict on the Shroud: Evidence for the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ," 1981, and "The Shroud and the Controversy," 1990). As I wrote in 2015:

"I already had a number of Habermas' works on Christian apologetics, and I knew him to be a sound, evidence-based, evangelical Christian philosopher, [so] when in 2005 I found his book, "Verdict on the Shroud" in a secondhand bookstall ... I set aside my Protestant prejudice that the Shroud was just another fake Roman Catholic relic, and bought and read it ... I accepted then provisionally, and later fully, that the Shroud is indeed the very burial sheet of Jesus, bearing His crucified and resurrected image!"

See my first introductory post to this blog."

"Supporters offer million-dollar prize to replicate Shroud of Turin," Catholic Review, Christian Shields, 26 January 2024. See also 240209DC & 240222CW. [Right (enlarge). David Rolfe [1951-], a British documentary film producer, speaks ... at a news conference ... to announce a $1 million challenge prize to anyone who can recreate the Shroud of Turin using only tools and techniques from the 14th century.] ... Are you looking to make an easy $1 million? All you have to do is recreate a photographic negative image of an apparently crucified man on a 14-foot-by-3-foot piece of linen. And it has to have ... features, so that when it is rendered as ... three-dimensional ... based on the intensity of the shading, it should produce an accurately contoured 3-D image of a human form. ... the linen ... will be provided – it ... has to be done using only materials and methods that would have been available in medieval times, specifically between AD 1260 and 1390. Maybe it’s not an easy million bucks after all ... Rolfe ... first announced the challenge to the British Museum in his 2022 documentary, "Who Can He Be?" See 22May22. The British Museum supervised a carbon-14 dating of the Shroud of Turin in 1988, with a few labs from around the world. That testing pronounced that the shroud was not the genuine burial cloth of Christ, as many believe, because the testing showed it to be produced in the 13th or 14th century. However, since then, many researchers have noted that the testing was flawed. ... If, as museum officials said in 1988, some resourceful artist in the 1200s "Faked it and flogged it off," It was Oxford radiocarbon dating laboratory Director Prof. Edward Hall (1924-2001))[WI98, 7]. then ... it should be reproducible, including the unique characteristics that show the image of a man on the cloth does not contain any paint, ink, dye, stain or pigments, and that there is no image underneath the blood stains. After almost two years of no response from the British Museum, the challenge is being extended to the United States [on] Feb. 8. ... A donor who helped Rolfe finance his 2022 documentary also agreed to put up the money for the prize. The same donor agreed to cover the U.S. prize, if anyone succeeds. "He thinks his money is safe," Rolfe said. ... From my book, Chapter 2, "What is the Turin Shoud?":

"No explanation Modern science has no viable explanation of how the Shroudman's image was formed[TF06, 177], and neither has modern science been able to replicate the Shroud[BA11.]. In 2022, film-maker David Rolfe (1951-) offered the British Museum (which was involved in the 1988 radiocarbon dating)[DP89, 611], US$1M to replicate the Shroud[MJ22]. But neither the Museum nor other sceptics who claim to have replicated the Shroud, have taken up Rolfe's offer[GC24]! In February 2024 Rolfe extended his US$1M challenge to the USA[GC24]. It obviously is impossible that an unknown medieval artist could forge the Shroud and modern 21st century science cannot replicate it. But if the Shroud is acheiropoiētos ("not made with hands"), but made by God, as claimed for the Image of Edessa/Shroud since at least the sixth century[WI79, 138; WI91, 135; RC99, 55; WB06, 225; WI10, 128], then modern science may never be able to replicate it!"

"New evidence indicates Turin Shroud not a European forgery," Catholic Herald, Simon Caldwell, 26 March 2024 ... New scientific tests conducted on the famous Shroud of Turin have revealed that the flax used to make the linen was grown in the Middle East. The results of isotope tests provide new evidence that the shroud is the actual garment that was used to cover the body of Jesus Christ following his crucifixion – and is not a forgery that was created in medieval Europe. Fragments of cloth taken from the shroud show that

[Above (enlarge). Photograph Ray Rogers [1927-2005] took in 1979 showing the threads that came from the "Raes piece" – removed from the Shroud in 1973 for textile research – and from which William Meacham obtained his sample.]

its flax originated in the western Levant, a swathe of land occupied today by Israel, Lebanon and western parts of Jordan and Syria (see below).

[Above (enlarge)."Testing yielded the expected regional grouping. The two Shroud samples gave virtually identical results that fell into the cluster from Israel, as shown in the diagram" above. Linen is woven flax. Flax is mostly cellulose. Cellulose is repeating chains of molecules of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Ignoring carbon, ... hydrogen can be found either as deuterium (1 proton and 1 neutron) or protium (1 proton), and oxygen can be found either as oxygen-16 (8 protons and 8 neutrons), oxygen-17 (8 protons and 9 neutrons), or oxygen-18 (8 protons and 10 neutrons). Plants derive their oxygen and hydrogen by splitting water in photosynthesis. Therefore, plants in a region have a particular ratio of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes of that region, called an Isoscape. "There are several hypotheses to account for the outliers: linen fiber imported from another country, irrigation using water from deep ground, or contamination due to pest repellent or preservative." The Raes sample, of which these threads were a part, and the

[Left (enlarge). "Warp fibers from the radiocarbon sample ... The gum is swelling, becoming more transparent, and detaching from the fibers"[RR05, 191].].

radiocarbon dating sample, are covered with Alarizin (or Rose Madder) dye gum, which had been used in medieval Europe since 1291 [in fact more than 500 years before that - see below], as Rogers reported:

"All threads from the Raes sample and the yarn segments from the radiocarbon sample show colored encrustations (or coatings) on their surfaces .... The coating material ... consist[s] of a plant gum containing alizarin dye present in two forms. ... The main part of the shroud does not contain these materials. Alizarin and purpurin are extracted from Madder root and first appeared in Italy about A.D. 1291 ..."[RR05, 191].

"In the Middle Ages, Charlemagne [r. 768-814] encouraged madder cultivation. Madder was widely used as a dye in Western Europe in the Late Medieval centuries"[ALW]. So Madder Rose was being grown in Europe from at least the 8th century. And "Alizarin ... is an organic compound with formula C₁₄H₈O₄ that has been used throughout history as a prominent red dye, principally for dyeing textile fabrics"[ALW]. With 8 hydrogen, and 4 oxygen, atoms in every alizarin molecule, Madder Rose grown in Europe would take up water into photosynthesis containing oxygen-18 and hydrogen-2 (deuterium) and split them into H² and O¹⁸

[Above (enlarge[WSC]). Photosynthesis equations of experiments by Ruben et al. (1940) showing that plants derive their oxygen (and hydrogen - not shown) from soil water, not atmospheric carbon dioxide or water. And because soil water is regional, not global as atmospheric carbon dioxide is, the cellulose of plants, including flax, reflects their regional ratios of oxygen-18 and hydrogen-2.]

which would be incorporated into Madder Rose dye, in a European isoscape H² and O¹⁸ ratio. So the "Europe outlier" in the graph above is readily explained by contamination of the Raes threads with a medieval European Madder Rose dye. This leaves the Shroud's flax having been grown in "the western Levant, a swathe of land occupied today by Israel, Lebanon and western parts of Jordan and Syria"!

William Meacham, the American archaeologist who commissioned the study, said: "With a probable near Eastern origin, new doubts must be raised about interpreting the shroud as simply a fake relic made in medieval Europe, and new questions arise about what the image on the cloth signifies. "The possibility that this cloth is actually the burial shroud of Jesus is strengthened by this new evidence. "In my view, that remains the best explanation for the shroud." As a member of the board of directors of the Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association (STERA), Meacham obtained permission to test five of seven threads in the possession of the group. The threads originated from a sample known as the "Raes piece" that was removed from the Shroud in 1973 for textile research. Fourteen threads were provided by the Turin archdiocese to the physicist [sic thermal chemist] Ray Rogers, a member of the American scientific team that had conducted an onsite study of the shroud in 1978, and which were later passed on to STERA. Testing was undertaken at the Stable Isotopes Laboratory of the University of Hong Kong, which is able to test very small samples of even less than 1mg. Meacham said the Eastern origin of the shroud is important because "it reinforces other features that point in that direction". He explained: "Most notable was the pollen. Even though many identifications have since been discounted, certain species taken together still indicate an Eastern Mediterranean presence. For example, pollen of halophyte (salt tolerant) plants which only grow around the Dead Sea:

"But as he [Frei] steadily identified one pollen after another ... there began emerging certain specimens that had to be of import ... In particular, he found himself identifying pollens from halophytes, that is, from plants typical of the desert regions around the Jordan valley and specifically adapted to live in soils with the high salt content found almost exclusively around the Dead Sea. In his own words: `These plants are of great diagnostic value for our geographical studies as identical desert plants are missing in all the other countries where the Shroud is believed to have been exposed to the open air. Consequently a forgery, produced somewhere in France during the Middle Ages in a country lacking these typical halophytes, could not contain such characteristic pollen grains from the desert regions of Palestine.' [Frei, "From a report to British film producer David Rolfe, January 1977"][WI98, 99-100, 252].

Similarly, the crown of thorns [on the shroud] in helmet style rather than Roman circlet is a feature characteristic of Asia Minor and the Levant. A positive photograph of the back of the man's head

[Right (enlarge[LM10]). "Close-up of the blood flows on the Shroud's back-of-the-head imprint. These appear to have derived from a cap of spikes ... rather than the neat circlet often imagined by artists"[WS00, 57].

(rotated 90 degrees because it is upside down - above right), shows trickles of blood consistent with a `cap of thorns' having been forced down upon his head. And also a horizontal band keeping the `cap' in place (consistent with the Crown of Thorns now in the Louvre, Paris - see 11Feb23):

"... all around the Shroud man's forehead and again around the back of his head, we noted a series of reddish-coloured, irregularly spaced trickles, as if something spiked had caused his scalp to bleed in several places. Even for a layman, these fairly obviously suggest the 'crown of thorns' that all four gospels describe as having been thrust on Jesus' head to humiliate him - although the Shroud indicates that this was very much more like a crude, tangled clump of some barbed plant, than the neat circlet imagined by most artists. However, it is again the medical specialist. who notes ... the medically convincing character of each blood trickle ..."[WS00, 57-58].

Another is the claim of coins on the eyes in the shroud image that matched a documented instance from a second century burial in Judea. "This was an impressive confirmation of a hypothesis generated by computer 3D analysis in 1977, at a time when there was no known

[Left (enlarge[JJ77, 88]). 1977 VP-8 Image Analyzer close-up of the Shroudman's face, showing circular bulges over each eye, which are the same size and shape of Pontius Pilate lepton coins, minted in AD 29! See 10May13 & 18Apr20]

instance (outside of Israel) of such a practice in antiquity." ... While the latest findings counter the accusation that the shroud is only a forgery, mystery remains and Meacham admits ... that "there is slight overlap of a couple of samples (of flax) from western Europe with those of Israel". See above that the "overlap" is explained by the Raes fibres being contaminated by medieval Rose Madder dye, with its European ratio of oxygen-18 and hydrogen-2. ...

Notes:
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to extract or quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided the extract or quote includes a reference citing my name, its title, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page. [return]

Bibliography
ALW. "Alizarin," Wikipedia, 11 November 2023.
BA11. Boyle, A., 2011, "Was Holy Shroud created in a flash? Italian researchers resurrect claim," 22 December.
DP89. Damon, P.E., et al., 1989, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin," Nature, Vol. 337, 16th February, 611-615.
GC24. Gunty, C.,2024, "Supporters offer million-dollar prize to replicate Shroud of Turin," Catholic Review, 9 February.
JJ77". Jackson, J.P., Jumper, E.J., Mottern, R.W. & Stevenson, K.E., ed., 1977, "The Three Dimensional Image on Jesus' Burial Cloth," in Stevenson, K.E., ed., "Proceedings of the 1977 United States Conference of Research on The Shroud of Turin," Holy Shroud Guild: Bronx NY.
LM10. Extract from Latendresse, M., 2010, "Shroud Scope: Durante 2002 Vertical" (rotated 90 degrees), Sindonology.org.
MJ22. Moorhead, J., 2022, "The $1m challenge: `If the Turin Shroud is a forgery, show how it was done'," The Observer, 17 April.
RR05. Rogers, R.N., 2005, "Studies on the Radiocarbon Sample from the Shroud of Turin," Thermochimica Acta, Vol. 425, Nos 1-2, 20 January, 189-194.
RC99. Ruffin, C.B., 1999, "The Shroud of Turin: The Most Up-To-Date Analysis of All the Facts Regarding the Church's Controversial Relic," Our Sunday Visitor: Huntington IN.
TF06. Tribbe, F.C., 2006, "Portrait of Jesus: The Illustrated Story of the Shroud of Turin," Paragon House Publishers: St. Paul MN, Second edition.
WSC. "What is the correct balanced equation of Photosynthesis?," Biology4U, 2024.
WB06. Whiting, B., 2006, "The Shroud Story," Harbour Publishing: Strathfield NSW, Australia.
WI79. Wilson, I., 1979, "The Shroud of Turin: The Burial Cloth of Jesus?," [1978], Image Books: New York NY, Revised edition.
WI91. Wilson, I., 1991, "Holy Faces, Secret Places: The Quest for Jesus' True Likeness," Doubleday: London.
WI98. Wilson, I., 1998, "The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence that the World's Most Sacred Relic is Real," Simon & Schuster: New York NY.
WI10. Wilson, I., 2010, "The Shroud: The 2000-Year-Old Mystery Solved," Bantam Press: London.
WS00. Wilson, I. & Schwortz, B., 2000, "The Turin Shroud: The Illustrated Evidence," Michael O'Mara Books: London.

Posted 2 July 2024. Updated 3 November 2024.