Francis Phillips in the Catholic Herald (CatholicHerald.co.uk) writes The Shroud of Turin – why I believe:
I can accept that de Wesselow, though correct as I see it about the provenance and image of the Shroud itself, might pick, choose and invent his own fanciful theological theories. But I admit I was startled to read that Peter Stanford, a former editor of this august newspaper, harbours his own doubts. He writes, “The exact nature of the Resurrection troubles me as it does many Christians. Was it physical, against all the laws of nature but as the Church claims, or was it ‘symbolic’, as the Bishop of Durham, David Jenkins, famously suggested in 1984?”
Good grief, man. Don’t you yet realise that the whole point of God is that he is not bound by “the laws of nature”? And that although symbols perform a useful function for the human imagination they are not the real thing? (When the writer Mary McCarthy once described the Blessed Sacrament as just a “symbol”, a finer American writer, Flannery O’Conner, who was listening, responded, “If it’s just a symbol, to hell with it.”) Finally, who, outside woolly liberals, would ever give the time of day to the heretical and unedifying ramblings of the former Bishop of Durham on this subject?
Let’s not forget that the see of old woolly liberal Bishop David Jenkins was ultimately filled by very conservative Bishop N. T. Wright (pictured), one of the greatest modern scholars of the Resurrection, author of The Resurrection of the Son of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God that at 817 pages weighs in at some 3 lbs (except that you can now get it on Kindle).
Those who claim the Resurrection was a miracle against the laws of nature have, perhaps, a limited view of the laws of nature. Atheist in chief Richard Dawkins writing in his epic screed against religion, the God Delusion, found quantum mechaics incomprehensible even though it works and was a factor in creation of the atom bomb. “But if science can’t explain it what makes anyone think that religion can?”
Quantum phenomena operate at times independent of time and space. Nothing is defined until it is observed.
Some believe that human conscience is quantum phenomenon. Beneath the quantum level of existence is another level of existence that defines the quanta. None dare call it God. But as it seeks to unravel the mysteries of the quantum, science is staring God in the face, it’s just that some scientists refuse to see it.
The Resurrection? Under these circumstances is not a mystery, but a piece of cake.
Mr Klotz, well said! I’ve been trying to make this same point for months here, but with my weak writing skills have not been able to carry it across as eloquently as you just managed. To those who seek a ‘naturalistic’ cause, as science deems it today for an explanation of the Shroud; try thinking outside the ‘stringent scientific box’ for a moment and heed the words written above.
Ron
De Wesselow suggests that the shroud contained an image of such physical clarity that the Apostles took it for a sign of Jesus’ resurrection. But the image was and is barely recognizable as a human form except when the turn of the 20th century photographer looked at the negative image, at least, according to what I’ve read. Maybe I missed De Wesselow’s explanation in this regard, but I hardly think the Apostles would have regarded blood stains, which scarcely appeared human, as the basis for proof of the resurrection.
Exactly dv, they would not have been able to distinguish much of an image, if at all. If they had they would have most likely just comprehended it’s imprint as created by the secretion of sweat and blood, nothing more, as others have thru the centuries…My hypothesis is that one of the apostles removed the Shroud from the tomb, not daring to unravel it and more likely folding it up even more to hide it, along with the sudarium. Whomever it was would not dare getting caught with these ‘unclean’ items. So in most likelyhood they took them to their hiding place and concealed them or to show the other apostles. I would think they would still be stunned as to why the clothes were still there to begin with, and in their original configuration (still wrapped and bound by strips) with no sign of being unravelled from the body. It may have been Jesus himself that pointed the image to them when he appeared to them and explained also that it must be protected….just conjecture of course, but may fit in quite well.
Ron
Vincenzo Giovanni Ruello has solved the mystery of the Turin Shroud check this out your eyes will pop out of your head