Gerrard Kaonga
Things might be heating up in the theologian community as researchers dispell the idea that the Shroud of Turin was used in Jesus’ burial.
Regardless of your beliefs, a lot of research goes into the history of religion, with historians and theologians paying close attention to potential events and artefacts.
When it comes to Christianity and the time of Jesus, things can prove to be particularly tricky due to the time period being almost 2,000 years ago.
Yeah, fun fact, if Jesus did exist, he didn’t die and wasn’t born on 0AD, it is all rather confusing but that is history for you.
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One artifact that was believed to have had close ties to the Christian savior was the Shroud of Turin, a centuries-old linen cloth, that some thought was used to cover Jesus after his crucifixion.
The item is currently on display at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy.
However, Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Moraes created a virtual simulation of the shroud to place over an image of a body to see whether impressions on the fabric were a match.
He argued that rather than the cloth used, it is actually a piece of Christian art.
This helps support the other ideas surrounding the cloth, that argue it can only be traced to the mid 14th century, making it a forgery rather than an item almost 2000 years old.
Moraes said: “I think the possibility of this having happened is very remote.
“On one side are those who think it is an authentic shroud of Jesus Christ, on the other, those who think it is a forgery.
“But I am inclined towards another approach: that it is, in fact, a work of Christian art, which managed to convey its intended message very successfully.
“It seems to me more like a non-verbal iconographic work that has very successfully served the purpose of the religious message contained within.”
Moraes also explained how the simulation disproved the idea that it was the shroud used to cover Jesus.
When laid flat, the virtual fabric showed ‘a distorted and significantly more robust image’ than that on the shroud. He noted that the printing stains from a human body would be more swollen and the impression left by a 3D body shows the striking difference with the shroud.
He added: “When you wrap a 3D object with a fabric, and that object leaves a pattern like blood stains, these stains generate a more robust and more deformed structure in relation to the source.”
Only time will tell if people’s view on the shroud will shift to match the new arguments made following further research.