Shroud of Turin photographer Barrie Schwortz to speak at Shell Point
Cape Coral Daily Breeze
The final presentation in the Shell Point Retirement Community 2009 Inaugural Speaker Series will feature Barrie Schwortz, known as the Shroud of Turin Photographer, on Thursday, March 19.
The program will begin at 7 p.m. in the Village Church Auditorium on the Island at Shell Point.
The Shroud of Turin is a centuries old linen cloth that bears the image of a crucified man, a man that millions believe to be Jesus of Nazareth. Is it really the cloth that wrapped his crucified body, or is it simply a medieval forgery, a hoax perpetrated by some clever artist? Modern science has completed hundreds of thousands of hours of detailed study and intense research on the Shroud. It is in fact, the most studied artifact in human history.
Barrie Schwortz was the Official Documenting Photographer for the Shroud of Turin Research Project, the team that conducted the first in-depth scientific examination of the Shroud in 1978. Today, he plays an influential role in the Shroud research. Schwortz has conducted Shroud lectures around the world and is frequently called upon as a leading imaging expert. He has participated in programs on the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel, the National Geographic Channel, CNN, CBS, NBC, PBS, and BBC. His photographs have appeared in hundreds of books and publications including Time Magazine, Life, Newsweek, and National Geographic as well as in countless television documentaries.
Barrie Schwortz will share the 30-year history of Shroud research, key scientific elements about the Shroud, behind-the-scenes accounts of the research team, and his own personal story of how the Shroud of Turin has impacted his life.
"The Shroud of Turin holds a lot of historical mystery, and Mr. Schwortz has been conducting in depth research about its origin," said Dawn Boren, director of resident life for Shell Point. "He will give audience members an inside look at the research that has been done, and the 30 year history, from a personal viewpoint."
You may purchase tickets to attend Barrie Schwortz’s program for $40. To purchase tickets, or receive additional information, please call (239) 454-2067.
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Is the Shroud real? Probably.
The Shroud of Turin may be the real burial cloth of Jesus. The carbon dating, once seemingly proving it was a medieval fake, is now widely thought of as suspect and meaningless. Even the famous Atheist Richard Dawkins admits it is controversial. Christopher Ramsey, the director of the Oxford Radiocarbon Laboratory, thinks more testing is needed. So do many other scientists and archeologists. This is because there are significant scientific and non-religious reasons to doubt the validity of the tests. Chemical analysis, all nicely peer-reviewed in scientific journals and subsequently confirmed by numerous chemists, shows that samples tested are chemically unlike the whole cloth. It was probably a mixture of older threads and newer threads woven into the cloth as part of a medieval repair. Recent robust statistical studies add weight to this theory. Philip Ball, the former physical science editor for Nature when the carbon dating results were published, recently wrote: “It’s fair to say that, despite the seemingly definitive tests in 1988, the status of the Shroud of Turin is murkier than ever.” If we wish to be scientific we must admit we do not know how old the cloth is. But if the newer thread is about half of what was tested – and some evidence suggests that – it is possible that the cloth is from the time of Christ.
No one has a good idea how front and back images of a crucified man came to be on the cloth. Yes, it is possible to create images that look similar. But no one has created images that match the chemistry, peculiar superficiality and profoundly mysterious three-dimensional information content of the images on the Shroud. Again, this is all published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
We simply do not have enough reliable information to arrive at a scientifically rigorous conclusion. Years ago, as a skeptic of the Shroud, I came to realize that while I might believe it was a fake, I could not know so from the facts. Now, as someone who believes it is the real burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth, I similarly realize that a leap of faith over unanswered questions is essential.
My name is Dan Porter. Please email me at DanielRobertPorter@gmail.com
I wonder if anyone else would like to see what our savor looks like?
The picture they show seams more like a cartoon.
There are few people I know who would not be interested. This is the only way to see what the savor looks like. It would make me verry happy!