Shroud of Turin back in the news

Earlier this year Barbara Frale made headlines by arguing that the Shroud of Turin was hidden for over 100 years by the Knights Templar. Now she's back, claiming to have found writing on the Shroud that identifies the figure as Jesus Christ. From startribune.com:

Frale, a researcher at the Vatican archives, said Friday that she used computers to enhance images of faintly written words in Greek, Latin and Aramaic scattered across the shroud.
She asserts the words include the name "Jesus Nazarene" in Greek, proving the text could not be of medieval origin because no Christian at the time, even a forger, would have labeled Jesus a Nazarene without referring to his divinity.

Thanks to Cranky Media Guy for forwarding me the link. I can't top his comment: "She also found a tag reading 'Dry Clean Only.'"

Religion

Posted on Fri Nov 20, 2009


Comments

The category for this one should be "paredoila."

Frale fails to explain why someone would write words on a shroud at all, let alone do so in three languages. This was not customary in the First Century, nor in the Middle Ages.

There are lots of medieval references to Jesus that do not specifically state that he is divine. Where did Frale get the idea that this would have been impossible? In medieval Europe, the divinity of Jesus was taken for granted, so it didn't have to be stated every time Jesus was named.
Posted by Big Gary  on  Fri Nov 20, 2009  at  06:38 PM
If only it were autographed--that would prove it was real!
Posted by Frosted Donut  on  Sat Nov 21, 2009  at  01:02 PM
Well acutally, in the first ages of the medievel ages, there were differend believes within the christendom. In the counsil of Nicea in 325, the inmportant people of the church did decide that they would see jezus as a holy person and not just as an important human, what some thought (arianism).
Posted by Ares  on  Sun Nov 22, 2009  at  12:33 PM
Though Arianism lasted for a long, long time even after that. Saying "Christians in the Middle Ages wouldn't go against orthodoxy" is rather like saying "Americans are all either Democrats or Republicans". Considering the number of very public heretics mentioned from the times, it's obvious that there were many, many people who would quite readily have left off calling Jesus divine on a piece of cloth. . .and I think that somebody forging a "holy relic" would be a likely candidate for already at least being partway to becoming a heretic.
Posted by Accipiter  on  Sun Nov 22, 2009  at  11:04 PM
According to the Biblical text, in reference to Jesus' burial, the Shroud of Turin CAN'T be his burial cloth. Read the gospel of John 20:7. It specifically states his head was wrapped separately, and the rest of his body had been wrapped in multiple linen clothes...
Posted by Christopher  on  Tue Nov 24, 2009  at  04:48 PM
Christopher's right. The Gospel mentions a separate cloth that was wrapped around Jesus' head. Of course, the Gospel of John might be wrong, but that opens up another can of worms, doesn't it?
Posted by Big Gary  on  Thu Nov 26, 2009  at  04:48 PM
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