Did anyone watch the programme yesterday on Channel 4 about the new evidence?
I was kicking myself that I forgot to watch - just like when I went to the church in Turin, I chose a day when it was closed....
Anyway, I heard from a friend this morning that it was a fantastic programme and I hope Channel 4 will provide a video for it, but so far, there is nothing. However, I did find a 50 minute one from an earlier programme that I watched earlier this year.
This is the blurb about the Dec 30th documentary:
The Turin Shroud: The New Evidence
For centuries, people have argued about the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. It is one of the most controversial relics in the Christian world. Some believe it to be a physical link to Jesus of Nazareth: his crucified image imprinted onto a first-century linen cloth. For others, it is nothing more than an elaborate medieval forgery.
In 1988, the definitive scientific verdict on the Shroud was announced: a radiocarbon dating concluded that the Shroud of Turin was a 700-year-old medieval hoax. But now, this film documents new research by one of the first scientists ever to analyse the relic in the 1970s. Doctor Ray Rogers has uncovered startling new evidence that casts serious doubts over those 1988 findings.
In an exclusive interview, given just before he died, he also reveals findings that suggest the Shroud could indeed contain the image of Christ. This documentary examines other scientific investigations that cast new light on the shroud and questions the 1988 carbon dating. How did the image get on the cloth? And how does it so authentically reproduce evidence of wounds from an actual crucifixion that would have been unknown to a medieval faker?
Using the knowledge of eminent historians and scientists throughout the world, this documentary aims to reveal the story behind one of most controversial relics in Christianity as the age and authenticity of the Shroud of Turin is, once again, open to debate.
[url]The Turin Shroud: The New Evidence[/url]
Here is the link to the earlier documentary:
In the summer of 2002 in complete secrecy the Shroud of Turin, the world's most famous religious relic, underwent a major restoration. As Swiss textile expert Dr Mechthild Flury-Lemberg performed her delicate work on what some still believe to be the burial cloth of Jesus, she noticed a stitch pattern that dated the cloth back to the first Century AD. Nothing unusual about that - except that in 1988 radio carbon dating had revealed the linen had been made sometime between 1260 and 1390, and that the Shroud was therefore a mediaeval fake. As Flury-Lemberg scrutinised the Shroud, she realised that the only other cloth on which she had seen the same type of stitch came from Mesada, a town on the shores of the Dead Sea.
And a couple more articles of interest:
I'd love to hear from anyone who watched it yesterday!
Love and peace,
Judy
Shame it's not on Channel4OD - I would have liked to have seen it too!
I watched this programme and to be honest I was a bit disappointed. It was mostly a recap about all the evidence (both for and against) so far, then a bit of a twist re new thinking about the carbon dating angle.
However, there are still more tests to be done to confirm "yes" or "no" so we are still none the wiser. I was left thinking - why make this programme now when we still haven't finished the research?
Interesting but inconclusive.
I read many years ago that the Shroud had been used on Jaques de Molay, the head of the Knights Templar - who was tortured for his 'lack of Christian beliefs' and put through the identical treatment of Jesus, to imprint on him the importance of Christianity. It was all put in a believable format and it fitted with the research at the time - but after so many hundreds of years ... ? And the Church weren't allowing any more threads to be taken for further research - they'd had to take them from the hem only.
What needs checking is the DNA on the sweat marks, but apparently those parts are not allowed to be touched. More income can be made from the mystery than discovering the truth!