ay back to the first century. Millions believe it to be the actual burial shroud of Jesus, National Geographic called it “one of the most perplexing enigmas of modern times.” Time magazine called it “Riddle of the Ages.” The Shroud is a fascinating blend of ancient history, sacred art, modern science and religious tradition.” (Multimedia World History CD, 95.) On the other hand, “the Turin Shroud, a piece of linen cloth roughly 1 by 4 meters, covered the body of Jesus after His death. It bears the faint image of a human shape that becomes quite vivid in a photographic negative. Details show the marks of torture and crucifixion.” (Reader’s Digest Almanac of the Uncanny, 95.) All in all instead of a vague outline of a bearded man, there was a massively detailed photograph of a terribly wounded, terribly real body. The descriptions from the references gathered were all similar. For sure this image, this torn and tortured man could be no other than Jesus himself. The power of the Shroud is never to be underestimated. Problem Two: What is the History of the Shroud? Where did it come from? It is a must to look at the known history of the Shroud to pick up from a often biased and selective story where the most awesome relic in Christendom could possibly begun its career. Had it actually originated in a cold tomb in first-century Palestine? “The history of the Shroud of Turin can be best studied by dividing it into two specific categories. The general consensus of even the most doubting researches is to accept a “1350” date as the beginning of the “undisputed” or documented history of the Shroud of Turin. This also happens to coincide with the approximate date determined by the 1988 carbon dating of the cloth. Although there is a significant amount of evidence supporting the Shroud’s existence prior to the mid 1300’s, much more of it is, in fact, “ci...
