This is a follow up to Russ Breault at John Hopkins this Wednesday as reported in John Hopkins’ University Faculty and Staff Announcements. The headline, Shroud of Turin speaker to unfurl relic’s mysterious past is from the venerable Baltimore Sun. The article is by Jonathan Pitts:
October 9, 2013
He was one of the most important figures of his day, a man who was tortured to death at the hands of his enemies. Yet no fingerprints were taken, no body was ever found, and the deed took place long before crime fighters had access to DNA profiling.
It’s not an episode of "CSI" or "Cold Case Files" but the death by crucifixion of Jesus, a tragedy that remains steeped in ambiguity some 2,000 years later. Some say the only evidence from the scene is a blood-flecked swatch of linen kept in a climate-controlled reliquary in Italy.
To believers, the Shroud of Turin, as it’s known, is the cloth that cloaked the body of Jesus before his planned burial. To skeptics, it’s a hoax conjured up to sell Christianity or draw tourists.
It has been studied by everyone from theologians to NASA historians, and still, no one knows.
"The shroud is the most analyzed artifact in history, yet it’s still the world’s greatest unsolved mystery," says Russ Breault, an independent scholar who will present "The Shroud Encounter," an original multimedia show and lecture, at the Johns Hopkins University Wednesday night. "It’s my mission to pass the subject on to a new generation."
There is more in the Sun: Shroud of Turin speaker to unfurl relic’s mysterious past.