You may recall that in May, on the 28th, I posted Did Jesus Survive the Crucifixion? The posting was mostly about an article that appeared in May issue of The Review of Religions by Arif Khan, The Sudarium of Oviedo and the Shroud of Turin. The Review of Religions is a significant international magazine published by the Ahmadiyya Muslim community.
As it turns out, I didn’t do the issue justice. What alerted me to that fact is a Facebook entry, last night, by Barrie Schwortz:
In their May 2015 issue (http://reviewofreligions.org/date/2015/05/), the London based publication, The Review of Religions, reprinted several of my Shroud articles and published a new article about the Sudarium by staff writer Arif Khan. The 113 year old magazine is published by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the U.K. and their May issue also included a large selection of my 1978 photographs. The issue was received very favorably and the publishers have graciously invited me to attend and speak at their 49th annual Jalsa Salana UK Convention in Hampshire, England this August. I immediately contacted Pam Moon in West Midlands, England, who created the beautiful Shroud of Turin Exhibition (http://www.shroudofturinexhibition.com/Shroud_of_…/Home.html) which she tours around the U.K. and she has happily agreed to bring her exhibit to the Hampshire event as well.
This marks the first time either Pam or I have ever spoken to an Islamic group and we are very grateful to Review Editor Amer Safir, his staff and the Ahmadiyya community for this wonderful invitation. I will provide more details in our Summer Website Update in August. Last year’s Jalsa event had more than 30,000 attendees. Here is a link to some excellent BBC coverage of their 2013 event: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23903377
Here is a partial table of contents of the May issue:
From the Archives: Is the Shroud of Turin a Medieval Photograph?
BARRIE SCHWORTZ – USA
The official photographer of the 1978 Shroud of Turin Research Project explains whether the theory that the Shroud is merely a photograph taken in the 14th century is true or false.
[continue reading…]
The Sudarium of Oviedo and the Shroud of Turin
There exists another cloth, closely related to the Shroud of Turin, that is far less famous but has an equally controversial claim–the Sudarium of Oviedo. (Arif Khan – UK)
A Brief Review of the Recent CNN Documentary & Further Comments on the Medieval Photograph Theory
Renowned Shroud expert Barrie Schwortz gives his opinion on CNN’s recent documentary on the Shroud of Turin. (Barrie Schwortz – USA)
The Oviedo Cloth by Mark Guscin
Mark Guscin is one of the few scholars to have written about the Sudarium of Oviedo in English. Here we review his important book. (Arif Khan – UK)
Jesus In India
An incredible hypothesis – Jesusas survives the crucifixion and travels East to India. Is this a deluded theory– or does history give support to this? (Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad – The Promised Messiah & Mahdi (as))
One wonders if it is worth it going to England. There is a way to cut the story short and go directly to the source, where it is possible to learn from Hindus (in India) and mainstream Muslims (In Pakistan and India) that Jesus is not buried in Kashmir:
https://www.academia.edu/7893085/The_Quest_for_Jesus_in_Shroud_research
Islam has a special eschatological role for Jesus to play at the end of time.
Jesus was also not buried in Talpiot:
https://www.academia.edu/7471223/Jesus_was_not_buried_in_Talpiot_-_Part_III
Recently, however, there have been attempts to link the James ossuary to the Talpiot tomb and thus authenticate it as the “Jesus family tomb”. The Israel Antiquites Authority dismissed the second part of the inscription as a forgery and returned the bone box to its owner. Some three months before this verdict, in 2003, Joe Marino ran this article on his email list:
https://www.academia.edu/13960422/The_James_Ossuary_Much_Ado_About_Nothing
We are in the midst of so much evil, the Nazi holocaust being just one recent example, that a lot of rethinking is going on, even in the field of literature:
https://www.academia.edu/12823419/Book_Review_Jesus_and_Yahveh_the_names_divine
Thing have gone even further, and the very concept of monotheism is being questioned. Other than all the literature contesting the NT accounts, we also have Jan Asmann’s “Moses the Egyptian” and studies questioning the origin of the Quran:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/02/arts/scholars-are-quietly-offering-new-theories-of-the-koran.html?pagewanted=2
Years ago Arnold Toynbee expressed his doubts about the Bible (OT and NT) as revelation and today we have RD, who has posed an even bigger challenge.
Trying to post a comment.
It is sad to see that there is a lack of general knowledge when it comes to many issues, including religion. Which is what makes one wonder if it is worthwhile going to England. Why not go directly to the source (India, to learn from the Hindus as well as Muslims) and Pakistan (to hear what the Muslims have to say)? They will say that Jesus is not buried in Kashmir, and that is not only because Hindus in general also worship Jesus as “avatar” (incarnation of God with special powers) and there dozens of Hindu temples with sculptures or pictures of both Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Mainstream Islam also has an eschatological role for Jesus to play at the end of time.
What proof is there that Jesus is not buried in Kashmir?
https://www.academia.edu/7893085/The_Quest_for_Jesus_in_Shroud_research
The Muslim caretakers of the tomb say that Yuz Asaf was a Muslim and that the place just serves as a tourist attraction, but not because Jesus is really buried there.
Jesus was also not buried in Talpiot:
https://www.academia.edu/7471223/Jesus_was_not_buried_in_Talpiot_-_Part_III
Recently, however the theory that the James ossuary was taken from the Talpiot tomb was proposed again. The Israel Antiquities Authority dismissed the second part of the inscription as a forgery and returned the bone box to the owner. Some three months before this verdict (2003) Joe Marino ran this aricle on his email list:
https://www.academia.edu/13960422/The_James_Ossuary_Much_Ado_About_Nothing
The latest news we have is that the owner does not believe that the ossuary came from the Talpiot tomb.
There is so much evil in the world, the Nazi holocaust being just one example, that the topic has even reached literature:
https://www.academia.edu/12823419/Book_Review_Jesus_and_Yahveh_the_names_divine
Even the very concept of monotheism is being questioned, and the questions go much beyong Arnold Toynbee’s rejection of the Bible (both OT and NT) as revelation. Beyond the attacks on the NT, we now have Jan Assmann’s “Moses the Egyptian” and questions about the origin of the Quran:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/02/arts/scholars-are-quietly-offering-new-theories-of-the-koran.html?pagewanted=2
Before concentrating only on scripture, why not read the points RD has raised? Here is material to be tackled.
The religious idea of resurrection was already known in ancient Egypt.
Osiris was the Resurrected Savior-God of life and of death.
>…Osiris was the hope of everyman. His resurrection from the dead proved beyond doubt that there was life after death just as there was a new flood every year, a new heliacal rising of Soped, Sirius (the Greek Sothis), the brightest stationary star of Isis at the heel of the constellation Orion, symbolic of Osiris and bringer of the New Year and the new grain.
>In the Old Kingdom, only the divine king was certain to survive physical death. He rose to the sky and sat together with his father Re in the latter’s golden bark, merging with Re as a god. …
>…All human or divine miscreants capable of harming the resurrection of Osiris, had to be kept at a distance, and especially the followers of Seth, who never gave up trying to make incursions, or other malevolent intruders were kept at bay.
>…identification with Osiris in the Duat & resurrection : in the Duat, the ecstatic king embraces the ritual “sah” (mummy), the second transformation of the “body” of Osiris, and undergoes the stages of the Osirian drama (culminating in his consumption of the Eye of Horus and his resurrection) …
Links:
http://www.maat.sofiatopia.org/osiris.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris_myth
So…
Where are the differences with the Faith of Christianity?
See, for example:
>The Egyptians personified Horus and Osiris as the sun, just as The Rg Veda personifies the spirit of the Soma plant, which also yielded a divine elixir, as a luminous, solar deity …
>The Egyptians claimed that the Eye of Horus could confer immortality on those who consumed it, or an elixir made from it, just as the Rg Veda describes the Soma plant and its elixir as having the ability to confer immortality on those who consumed it …
etc., … etc. …
Link:
http://www.ambrosiasociety.org/osiris__horus.html
The Christian rite of Communion seems to be quite different …
Am I wrong?
The idea of the annual resurrection of the god is very ancient, is pervasive throughout very many cultures, is tied in with the several fertility cults, was seen as essential for the crops and the sustenance of the peoples, their flocks and herds. It tended to develop with the rise of the individual agricultural revolutions following the hunting and foraging periods of the several civilisations. Probably one of the earliest alphabetic script of about 1400 BCE concerns an epic of the Phoenician god Baal-Hadad, a young virile god who dies in the autumn but is resurrected in the spring. The cult had an attraction for the early agricultural Israelites, and was often condemned by the prophets, notably Ezekiel. A feature of such fertility cults sometimes involved human sacrifice in order to fertilise the soil. Following the return of the exiles, many of those who had married non-Jewish spouses were forbidden to return to Jerusalem and there was a strong Jewish settlement in Alexandria, eventually giving rise to the Greek Septuagint. I have sometimes wondered whether their exposure to Egyptian funerary practices, together with the philosophy of Alexandrian Greek Platonism may have influenced the maturing development of resurrection theology from about 200 BCE. This developing pattern seems evident in some of the later deutero-canonical works of the Septuagint.
It is not difficult to detect the nonsense one sees in the realm of Shroud studies. This generation of “Shroudies” is largely responsible for no new hands on examination of the Shroud. No one expected Pope Francis to swing a thurible at the exposition, but he did not even kneel in front of it.
We will all be dead and gone by the time something gets done and since some people, including scientists, speak about survival after death in the context of the relic what they are left to think about is whether they will be resurrected, reincarnated or just turned to dust.
I think one of the reasons for the nonsense is that the relic remains off-limits for further investigation. Many are genuinely interested in the enigma of the image, but in the continuing absence of availability, speculation needs thrive. It must be this, or it must be that.
What I wrote above, I suspect is all part of the deity’s plan in revealing himself by eventually taking on our humanity, and revealing himself through the person, crucifixion and resurrection of his Son.
Correct to an extent because the nonsense had begun before the relic became off limits, with the result that serious scholars and scientists also paid the price for the rubbish that others had published and the clashes occurred in newsletters and websites.
The Son had his own views about God, Moses and Scripture. Biblical scholars and theologians are slowly beginning to chance their approach because they have to. That way they can also grasp what Jesus really meant and contribute to a more convincing systematic theology.