For Immediate Release: Reynolds hosts Shroud Encounter
We have already reported that Shroud Encounter is coming to the Richmond, Virginia area in March. Here is an update via a press release.
Shroud Encounter will cover all aspects of the history, science, art and theories of how of how the images may have been formed.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RICHMOND, Va. (February 29, 2012) –Shroud Encounter is coming to J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College on Thursday, March 8 at 6 p.m. This highly acclaimed multi‐media
presentation will be held in the Library Technology Center Lipman Auditorium on the Parham Road Campus.
Shroud Encounter is a production of Shroud of Turin Education Project, Inc. and will be presented by international expert Russ Breault.
The Shroud of Turin is the most analyzed artifact in the world yet remains a mystery. The 14‐foot long linen cloth that has been in Turin, Italy for over 400 years and bears the faint front and back image of a 5’10" bearded, crucified man with apparent wounds and bloodstains that match the crucifixion account as recorded in the bible. Millions of people over the centuries have believed it be the actual burial shroud of Jesus. The historical trail tracks back through Italy, France, Asia Minor (Turkey) and may have originated in the Middle East according to botanical evidence.
Mr. Breault has been featured in several national documentaries including “Mysteries of the Ancient World” on CBS and most recently “The Real Face of Jesus?” on the History Channel. He has presented at numerous colleges and universities including Duke, West Point, Penn State and many others. The presentation is a fast moving, big‐screen experience using nearly 200 images covering all aspects of Shroud research. Admission is free and open to the public.
For more information, visit http://www.reynolds.edu or contact Andrea Byrd at albyrd@reynolds.edu or (804) 523‐5079
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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
New reformulated SHROUD, now with added uv enhancer.
Shroud – for that extra MYSTERY in your life (and all mysteriously free of charge).