Death certificate is imprinted on the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican scholar (more info)

The Times ^ | 11/20/2009 | Richard Owen

[markomalley]

A Vatican scholar claims to have deciphered the "death certificate" imprinted on the Shroud of Turin, or Holy Shroud, a linen cloth revered by Christians and held by many to bear the image of the crucified Jesus.

Dr Barbara Frale, a researcher in the Vatican secret archives, said "I think I have managed to read the burial certificate of Jesus the Nazarene, or Jesus of Nazareth." She said that she had reconstructed it from fragments of Greek, Hebrew and Latin writing imprinted on the cloth together with the image of the crucified man.

The shroud, which is kept in the royal chapel of Turin Cathedral and is to be put in display next Spring, is regarded by many scholars as a medieval forgery. A 1988 carbon dating of a fragment of the cloth dated it to the Middle Ages.

However Dr Frale, who is to publish her findings in a new book, La Sindone di Gesu Nazareno (The Shroud of Jesus of Nazareth) said that the inscription provided "historical date consistent with the Gospels account". The letters, barely visible to the naked eye, were first spotted during an examination of the shroud in 1978, and others have since come to light.

Some scholars have suggested that the writing is from a reliquary attached to the cloth in medieval times. But Dr Frale said that the text could not have been written by a medieval Christian because it did not refer to Jesus as Christ but as "the Nazarene". This would have been "heretical" in the Middle Ages since it defined Jesus as "only a man" rather than the Son of God.

[markomalley]

Her book can be ordered here. It is €28,00 plus shipping. (It might be able to be ordered from a US place, but I didn't get a hit anyplace)

[DuncanWaring]

Or does it say “Made in China”?

[ifear for the children]

Let me guess . . . was it Kenya?

[OpusatFR]

I’ve read forensic accounts of the Shroud and was moved to tears by the suffering of the man enclosed within it.

I absolutely believe this is the burial shroud of Christ.

[IronKros]

Is there a coffee ring at the bottom of the invoice?

[LIConFem]

"Or does it say “Made in China”?"

Nah... Burlington, NY

[Sacajaweau]

Oh pleezzzzzzzzzz, There’s not one person living or dead who ever described what Jesus looked like.

[SkyDancer]

You should read some verses in the NT that does describe what He looks like ....

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[WellyP]

I smell a conflict of interest! Carbon dating is very good. There is virtually no way they could have made a 1,000 error.

This is a great Medieval fake!

[BertWheeler]

This thread is a repeat of an another thread posted earlier today.

[Claytonbridge]

Was Obama’s birth certificate there too ;-)

[pgkdan]

bump...

[JoeProBono]

[MHGinTN]

A physician explains the medical aspects of crucifixion.

[pgkdan]

That’s no more funny now than it was this morning on the other two threads I saw it on.

[MHGinTN]

A physician explains the medical aspects of crucifixion.

[markomalley]

The only other thread on this was an AP piece that did not have nearly the level of detail that is in this Times article.

[pgkdan]

There is virtually no way they could have made a 1,000 error.

You have no idea what you are talking about. There are numerous ways such an error could have been made and most have been discussed here on FR many, many times.

[pgkdan]

I’m with you. I read the book by the forensic expert...the title slips my mind...and was heart broken over what He suffered. I think Mel Gibson took a lot of inspiration from that book for ‘The Passion of the Christ’.