So there is a rumor going around about having another U.S. Shroud of Turin conference in the summer of 2013 or 2014. The being-talked-about city is St. Louis. There had been a conference there at St. Louis University in 1991.
2013 would be the 35th anniversary of the STURP study and the 25th anniversary of the carbon dating of the shroud.
I’ll be there.
If I’m right, it’s during the conference of 1991 in St Louis that John Jackson released his famous (or infamous) hypothesis about the body image formation involving the resurrection and the body of Jesus becoming light… In my opinion, that was like the beginning of the end for the credibility of Shroud science outside the Shroud world. Before that time, I don’t think there was too many scientists who proposed a supernatural hypothesis and Jackson was truly the first one from STURP to do so.
So, for the history, I think we can say that the release of his hypothesis was a landmark, because it has contributed to open largely the gate to all the pseudo-science that you can imagine. I don’t say that Jackson is responsible of all the pseudo-science that have follow after his hypothesis was made public, but I think he has encourage some people from the lunatic fringe to come out of the shadow.