At the risk of repeating myself, again and perhaps again (and does anyone care – it’s a blog) as I said before, I first encountered the writings of Danusha Goska more than a decade ago when I read a comment about the shroud published by Barrie Schwortz (it is about 1/3 of the way down the page). I’ve discussed her in ‘If the shroud is a forgery, where are its precedents?’ two and a half years ago. There was Bieganski the Blog: The Shroud of Turin and Catholics, Atheists, Censorship and the Shroud of Turin: Who Censored Whom? by Danusha in Send Save Delete.
Now (three days ago) in Send Save Delete there is another posting on the shroud by Danusha. She is reading Ian Wilson’s 476-page, 2010 book "The Shroud: Fresh Light on the 2000-Year-Old Mystery."
When the carbon dating came out in 1988, I was living in Poland, participating in the riots that helped bring down the Soviet Empire, and the Shroud was the last thing on my mind.
It wasn’t till a televised documentary in the late 1990’s that a friend recorded and sent to me (thank you Don Freidkin) that I really got bitten by the Shroud bug. I read two Shroud books, one by Mark Antonacci (review here) and an earlier book by Ian Wilson (review here.)
I loved both of those books but they left me fifty percent convinced that the Shroud was what its adherents say it is, and fifty percent willing to be convinced that we were missing something terribly obvious and it really wasn’t all that.
I watched documentaries on youtube. Barrie Schwortz, Shroud expert, Orthodox Jew, and STURP photographer, allowed me to grill him long distance in an interview that lasted over an hour, during which Barrie insisted, "After years of study, I am absolutely certain that the Shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ."
Thomas de Wesselow’s book "The Sign" pushed me ever closer to believing that the Shroud is genuine. Interesting, because de Wesselow is not a believer. (Review of his book here.)
The book that is pushing the needle to 99% certainty is the one I’m reading now, and can’t wait to talk about, even though I’m not finished with it yet. Ian Wilson’s "The Shroud: Fresh Light on the 2000-Year-Old-Mystery."
About Danusha Goska from the Green Briar Review (from where the picture comes):
Danusha Goska’s writing has appeared in national publications like Sojourners and The Sun, in scholarly journals, such as The Journal of Popular Culture, Polin, and New York Folklore, and on websites such as Commondreams.org, TheScreamOnline.com, and Beliefnet.
Danusha has received hundreds of letters in response to "Political Paralysis," anthologized in The Impossible Will Take a Little While. Though the anthology contains works by Mandela, Neruda, and Martin Luther King, editor Paul Loeb wrote, "Goska is unknown, but more people have responded to her piece than any other in the book…when I’m interviewed on radio shows, people mention it as their personal favorite."
Danusha has won the New Jersey State Council on the Arts grant, the Eva Kagan Kans Award, The PAHA Halecki Award, and others. She holds an MA from UC Berkeley, a PhD from IU Bloomington, and she teaches at WPUNJ.
She wisely notes that it was de Wesselow who mistook the Shroud for the risen Jesus.
Hi, Thomas de Wesselow was kind enough to respond to my review of his work. You can read his reply here: http://save-send-delete.blogspot.com/2013/04/understanding-art-misunderstanding.html?showComment=1367318687720#c5951349735771505586
Danusha, de Wesselow is a respected Courtauld-trained art scholar and has gone a long way in favour of the Shroud’s authenticity, yet he still has much more to do. I have seen people in England talking and joking about ghosts and haunted houses,when not about the weather, but let us go take a serious path: The Society for Psychical Research in London has tons of material that can be read and one does not need to agree with everything that is read there, much less become a Spiritualist. But there is enough to convince the more open-minded that there is something beyond matter. Above all, the details about what happened after the Easter event also need close scrutiny. They are details that led to the birth of Christianity, with the burial cloth just getting a little more than passing mention.
This book pushed me over the edge. I’m now a believer. I leave a three percent chance that the Shroud is some fabulous hoax. Here’s my review of the book: http://save-send-delete.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-shroud-book-review-and-verdict-yep.html