Shroud Encounter

 

The presentation is a fast-moving, big-screen experience using over 200 images. The program is a production of the Shroud of Turin Education Project, Inc. and will be presented by international expert and author, Russ Breault.

Mr. Breault has been featured in several national documentaries seen on CBS, History Channel EWTN and Discovery. He has been interviewed for History’s Greatest Mysteries, Good Morning America and ABC World News Tonight and was a consultant for CNN’s Finding Jesus series. He has presented at numerous colleges and universities including Duke, West Point, Johns Hopkins, Penn State and many others. See www.ShroudEncounter.com for more info.

 

The Shroud of Turin is the most analyzed artifact in the world yet remains a mystery. The 14-foot-long linen cloth that has been in Turin, Italy for over 400 years and bears the faint front and back image of a 5'10" bearded, crucified man with apparent wounds and bloodstains that match the crucifixion account as recorded in the bible. Millions of people over the centuries have believed it be the actual burial shroud of Jesus. 

A team of 33 scientists in 1981 concluded it was not the work of an artist. They found no visible trace of paint, pigment, dye or other artistic substances on the cloth. The blood is type AB with human male DNA as determined in 1995. Skeptics have mounted numerous attempts to show how a medieval artist could have produced the image, but all have been inadequate to fully explain how it was formed. 

The Shroud was largely dismissed in 1988 when three carbon dating labs indicated a medieval origin. However chemical research published in a peer reviewed scientific journal in 2005 showed that the single sample cut from the outside corner edge may not have been part of the original Shroud material. In violation of the sampling protocol, only one sample was used for dating and was cut from the most handled area of the cloth, an area that should have been avoided. The sample may have been part of a section that was repaired sometime during the Middle Ages. Many scientists now believe the carbon dating result is inconclusive.

Adding more doubt to the carbon dating tests, as published in 2022 by scientists with Italy’s Institute of Crystallography. Using a new technique called Wide Angle X-ray Scattering which measures the amount of natural aging in linen, they determined the amount of aging seen in fibers from the Shroud are compatible with a first century linen found in Masada, Israel.  

 

The mystery continues. National Geographic called it "One of the most perplexing enigmas of modern times." SHROUD ENCOUNTER will cover all aspects of history, science, art and theories of how the image may have been formed.