Barrie Schwartz on the Shroud of Turin

Ever since I seen the Shroud of Turin Documentary I knew it was the actual burial cloth of Jesus Christ. No doubt in my mind that it is Authenticate. The Shroud was left behind for those who seek proof of Jesus Resurrection or for those who need to strengthen their faith.

Hi David; good to have you along.

The points you ask about have been the subject of considerable discussion, and even some research (!), but it would be wrong of anybody to say that conclusive proof has been achieved for or against any of them. Whether the body was washed or not, whether it was surrounded or anointed by anything, whether the shroud was wrapped or draped, whether and especially what combination of these might have resulted in the image as we see it today have all been, often hotly, debated. For what it’s worth, I will summarise the main opinions…

1) “Normally wrapped.” The precise details of 1st century Jewish burials, as applied to victims of a judicial crucifixion, in a hurry, are, of course, unknown, and leave lots of scope for variation. The paucity of archeological remains only serves to obfuscate the situation further. It seems that bodies were ‘normally’ laid in some sort of shroud (probably not a long thin one), allowed to rot away, and the bones reinterred in urns. Recovery of a relatively undamaged shroud would thus be very unlikely, which is why we don’t have any. Or any others, perhaps I should say.

2) “Attempts to coat a living person.” There have been dozens, all with fairly gruesome results. Any kind of wrapping produces what is called the ‘Agamemnon mask’ distortion of the face, with the ears wide apart sticking out at the sides, the legs very thick, and the top of the head a continuous band from forehead to the back of the neck. Very few, if any, researchers think that the body-image could have been formed in that circumstance, although some people think that the blood stains were transferred while the body was wrapped, and the image arrived later, on a different configuration of the shroud. However this is not necessarily a fatal objection to authenticity. After all, the body may have been closely surrounded, even packed, by bags or blocks of ‘myrrh and aloes’ or some other concoction. The bible is at pains to point out “one hundred pounds,” which is a pretty generous dose. This might have resulted in what was essentially a bas relief, and the image would not not have extended beyond what we might call the top and bottom surfaces.
Other researchers think that the image was formed by some form of emanation, either of gases, radiation or something more esoteric. Although these might be expected to spread out in all directions, if they actually only acted in a vertical direction, then again, the sides of the body would not be expected to leave an image.

3) “Washed and anointed.” Here, again, prescribed Jewish ritual versus a hurried burial in a temporary tomb leaves room for uncertainty. It does appear that the body itself was not smeared with oil or anything similar, as it left no trace of the cloth, but it may have been completely washed (a sign of respect) or not washed (to preserve the blood with the body, which was, and still is, important to Judaism when the blood represents a significant quantity of the remains) or partially washed (to remove mud and clean minor wounds, but leaving the dried or clotted significant quantities undisturbed). The ‘anointing’ may have consisted of packing the body with spices, or laying flowers or more spices on the body in some places.

4) “Dead bodies do not continue to bleed.” This is only partially true. As the heart stops pumping, and capillaries are thin, blood soon stops flowing through them, and the blood coagulates pretty soon anyway. However, blood inside a body stays liquid for some time, and opening a major wound, such as a nail-hole in a wrist or a spear-hole, can result in that blood falling out under gravity. Furthermore, abrasions, resulting in a loss of skin, can also remain moist for some time, and although they are unlikely to drip, at least some portion of the blood can be transferred to a cloth by contact. Try laying a piece of steak on a napkin to see what might be expected. Small but deep puncture wounds might also bleed under gravity if their surface clots were opened by a a cleaning or wiping process.

It should be needless to say that none of the suggestions above constitutes a verification of the authenticity of the shroud, but they do show that the simple assumptions many take to be proof of inauthenticity are in no way to be accepted at face value.