As reported on The Ohio State University > University Libraries > Knowledge Bank
Abstract: Marilyn R. Waldman Award for best essay by an undergraduate: Tamira Stephens, “Media Discourse and the Shroud of Turin,” in Michael McVicar’s Comp St 651, Religion and Media, Spring 2012.
- Title & Link: Media Discourse and the Shroud of Turin
- Creators: Stephens, Tamira
- Issue Date: 2013
- Publisher: Ohio State University. Department of Comparative Studies
The concluding paragraph of the essay reads:
While we may never fully know, it is an intriguing thought experiment to try to imagine how the Shroud of Turin would be understood today without the media’s involvement. As we can conceive of the Shroud as a medium in and of itself thanks to the theories posited by McLuhan, and certain belief in and about the Shroud as being improbably without the advent of evolving technology thanks to Sconce, it is quite impossible to tease these relationships apart. The Shroud and the media are forever intertwined, and it is quite likely that without the media and their messages about the Shroud, this fascinating relic-along with the belief that the Shroud is the authentic burial cloth of Christ-would not exist as it does today.
It is definitely worth your time. Right? Wrong? Or do we continue to blame the media?