While a new Exposition of the Turin Shroud is held from April 19th to June 24th 2015 this blog starts to discuss, without prejudice, some aspects of the history and nature of the object that for many – except a pugnacious (and well documented) group of opponents – was the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.
The goal of this blog is not to prove nor to deny authenticity: in the coming months, trying not to give up updates after the end of the 2015 Exhibition, some interventions will be posted about positively acquired fact on the question. It is sometimes difficult to deal with the publications of the so-called “specialists”, sometimes riddled with errors and beliefs that cannot be proved. On the other hand, papers and books of those who deny the authenticity of the Shroud are sometimes more interested in distinguishing a “good science” (i.e. their science) from the “bad one” of all the others.
This blog deals with a particular category which we will try to explain in all its aspects: what we’ll call the devotional authenticity of the Turin Shroud. Through the history of the House of Savoy and more generally of Italy and of Christianity itself, for at least five centuries, the Turin Linen was considered the real burial cloth of Christ. This conviction has inspired devotion and worship, historical research, art, and, to some extent, at least in recent years, even the investigation by exact sciences. Sindonology, as it is presented here, is the historical development of the passionate attention that the Shroud has aroused in this perspective. We are interested in the books, the works of art or religion that developed around it, whether the palynological analysis of the 1978 or the 1984 radiocarbon dating are reliable or not. That said, welcome to everybody.
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shroud and sindonology 