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Is the Shroud of Turin the Burial Cloth of Jesus?
- Blake Barbera
- 4 hours ago
- 9 min read
Stunning new evidence has left many skeptics to conclude that the Shroud is genuine
I was as skeptical as the next person when I started seeing the Shroud of Turin videos pop up on YouTube. “There is no way this could actually be the burial cloth of Jesus,” I thought.
And then, on the Saturday after Good Friday, almost three weeks ago now, I gave it a shot. I was outside painting chairs, getting the yard ready for an Easter gathering we were hosting. As I worked, I started listening to an interview with Dr. Jeremiah Johnston. He has become, perhaps, the world’s greatest expert on the Shroud of Turin.
I was fascinated as I listened to him discuss at length all of the reasons why the Shroud of Turin could not possibly be a forgery. If it were even possible, it would be the greatest counterfeit artifact of any kind in world history.
But before I go any further, let me pause and answer two very important questions: 1) What is the Shroud of Turin? And 2) what’s at stake regarding this ancient artifact? Does accepting or rejecting it change anything for Christians?
The Shroud of Turin is believed to be the burial cloth that Jesus was wrapped in after he died on the cross. The Bible tells us that Jesus was taken from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea before sundown and wrapped in a linen shroud (Greek word σινδών).[1] Mark includes that Joseph bought the linen shroud that day, while John uses a different term (ὀθόνιον) which means “linen cloths.”[2]
So, what is the Shroud? It’s believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus. I know, this sounds crazy, right?
What is at stake regarding the ancient artifact? Well, not much is at stake if we don’t accept it. If it turns out that the Shroud is not what we think it is, life will go on. There is already ample evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, including the fact that he was seen by over 500 people and that 11 of his followers were willing to suffer and die for the fact that they had seen him alive after his death. But remember, the most genuine faith does not require evidence. Jesus said that the people who believe without evidence, without seeing, are truly the blessed ones (John 20:29).
On the other hand, if the Shroud turns out to be genuine, it represents tangible, undeniable, concrete evidence that Jesus lived, died by torture and crucifixion, and was raised from the dead. That is astounding.
Dating of the Shroud
The Shroud has been studied by over 102 academic disciplines, and over 500,000 hours have been spent in scientific investigation of the Shroud of Turin. There is no other artifact in world history that has been studied as much as the Shroud.
In 1988, scientists from three separate laboratories dated samples from the Shroud of Turin, and each came back with similar results: the shroud was dated to between 1260 and 1390 AD. This was devastating to many people who believed the Shroud to be genuine. However, since then, numerous problems with the carbon dating analysis have been brought forth, the main one being that it is now believed the sample material used to date the Shroud was taken from a part of the cloth that had been repaired in the 1300s by European nuns after the Shroud had been damaged in a fire. This, along with various other problems with the Carbon Dating tests, has rendered it almost invalid to many Shroud scholars.[3] Notably, and for reasons unknown, the British Museum, which held the data from the Carbon tests, did not make it public until it was forced to do so following legal proceedings in 2017.[4]
More recently, in 2022, the Shroud was dated by the Institute of Crystallography using a newer science called “Wide-Angle X-Ray Scattering,” which compared the Shroud with a variety of samples of historical textiles documented to be aged from 3000 BC to 2000 AD. Dr. Liberato de Caro, the expert who performed the dating, lists several of the problems associated with Carbon-14 dating in his study, which concluded that the Shroud is best matched with a piece of fabric known to have come from the Siege of Masada, Israel, in 55-74 AD.[5]
Several other methods of dating have been performed in recent years. Although it must be said that the exact dating of the Shroud is the only variable that still remains unresolved in the case of the Shroud’s authenticity. Many other factors add far more weight to the argument that this is the burial cloth of Jesus.
The Visible Wounds on the Man of the Shroud
The Shroud is a 14 ft 7 inch x 3 ft 7 inch linen garment. It contains what appears to be a negative image of a man who stood approximately 5’11 and was killed by crucifixion. His hands and feet clearly bear the marks of crucifixion, and his body appears to be covered in wounds that are consistent with those inflicted by a Roman scourging.[6]
How do we know about the wounds? Not only are they visible in the image on the Shroud, but numerous blood stains on the Shroud match the location of the scourge wounds and crucifixion pits. The blood on the shroud was tested and found to be type AB positive, a rare blood type for Western people, but a kind that is found most commonly in Middle Eastern populations.
The Shroud also shows evidence of two more types of wounds: more than 50 wounds on the head that are consistent with those inflicted by thorns,[7] and a 3-4 centimeter wound on the right side, between the 5th and 6th rib, consistent with a Roman spear wound. This fits precisely with John’s account of a Roman soldier piercing Jesus’ side only to find that he was already dead.[8]
It must be said that no other victim of Roman persecution has ever been recorded as having had a crown of thorns placed on their head. What’s more, the blood tested from the specific wound was the only blood on the shroud found to be post-mortem blood, meaning that the individual who occupied the Shroud was already dead when the wound was inflicted. What about the blood from the rest of the garment? The blood that appears in various locations that match the wounds in the image? That blood carries extremely high levels of creatinine and ferritin, chemical markers that flood the body when someone experiences massive physical trauma and severe torture.[9]
It goes without saying that if the Shroud were a medieval hoax, originating from a time when knowledge of human blood types did not exist, then the forgers completely lucked into using the exact type of blood necessary to satisfy the rigorous standards of modern science. The blood on the Shroud undeniably comes from a Middle Eastern man who was tortured on the body and head, and blood from the same individual that was taken shortly after he died to match the side wound.
The Image on the Shroud: How Could This Have Been Created?
Some of the world’s leading scientific labs have studied and tested the Shroud of Turin. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Sandia Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Enea Labs (Rome, Italy), and the US Air Force are just some of the institutions that have performed scientific testing on the Shroud. To this day, there is still no explanation as to how the image on the Shroud was created. It is not man-made. There is no ink, die, or pigment to be found anywhere on the Shroud.
How could a negative image appear on a linen shroud that comes from at least a millennium before photography was invented? The image is only found on the very top layers of the linen fibers that make up the Shroud. If we know for certain that it wasn’t painted, dyed, or stitched, what could have caused it? Scientists have been unable to explain why the image is present at all, especially considering that it is so subtle that one must stand back more than eight feet to see it with the naked eye. It’s almost as if the image was lightly seared onto the cloth. How so? In order to make this sort of image on a linen shroud, it is estimated that 34 trillion watts of energy would be needed, and that it likely happened in ¼ of a billionth of a second. Think of a massive flash of light – one way bigger than any man-made machine could have created – hitting a pitch black place. This is something that no human or natural process can replicate.
Even more interesting, there are some places on the Shroud where it appears the light is coming from the inside out, which is why some researchers believe that bone and teeth are slightly visible on the Shroud. Do you see why so many researchers have been left to consider that this could actually be tangible proof of the moment Jesus Christ was raised from the dead? There is no explanation as to how this image could have been forged or even made using a man-made device or by any known natural phenomenon. There is absolutely no way of replicating it.
Pollen and the Weave of the Linen
Just last year, a study was released on the pollen grains found in the Shroud of Turin’s linen fibers.[10] Notably, the majority of the pollen fibers discovered on the Shroud (over 70%) originate from plants that are not European. Where do most of the pollen fibers come from? The majority of pollen fibers come from plants found variously in the Middle East, Africa, and West Africa, but there is only one place where all of these plants can be found in one location. That is why the combination of pollens found on the Shroud is so astounding. The only place in the world where all 41 non-European pollens found on the Shroud (save three, which can all be explained) can be found to grow in a very small radius is Jerusalem, Israel, the place where Jesus was crucified, and the place where, according to Mark’s Gospel, the shroud originated and was purchased on the day of Jesus’ death.[11]
In addition to this, textile experts who have studied the Shroud have concluded that the weave of the linen – a herringbone pattern that features the weft jumping over three warp threads on each pass – matches ancient Middle Eastern patterns, not medieval European patterns.[12]
What Do You Think?
Now that you’ve been introduced to some of the evidence regarding the Shroud of Turin, what do you think? Is this something worth investigating further?
While belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus has always been an act of faith for Christians – one that does not require evidence – evidence this compelling is certainly worth considering. If it turns out that this artifact is, in fact, the burial cloth of Jesus, and that the image left on it originated at the moment he was resurrected from the dead, what would that do for your faith?
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[1] John19:38-42.
[2] Mark 15:46; This word carries more of a sense of “bandages,” but that is likely because the shroud was wrapped snugly around Jesus and kept in place using other cloths, including a face covering.
[3] This is just one of several significant challenges to the 1988 dating: The Politics of the Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud – https://realseekerministries.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/joe-marino-politics_of_the_radiocarbon_dating_of_turin_shroud_pt1.pdf
[4] This is another rebuttal of the 1988 testing based on the raw data: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/arcm.12467.
[6] A quote from the Medical Forensic Explanation of the Shroud of Turin on the scourge wounds:
“Practically the entire body is covered with small wounds, equal to and similar to small dumbbells of about 3 cm in length. The marks, paired and pinpoint, are formed by small circles of about 12 mm in diameter, somewhat separated from each other but joined by a transverse line, in many cases visible. Some of these marks are not very visible on the Shroud with the naked eye, but are clearly revealed by ultraviolet light photographs. They are undoubtedly those that would be left by the Roman torture instrument, known by the name of “flagellum taxillatum”, named for the balls or “taxilli” that finished off its three straps formed by nerves obtained from animals.The representation of these lesions is located throughout the body: back, legs, chest, belly, gluteal area and, possibly, even on the genitals. Obviously, we think that the man must have been totally naked when he received this brutal and systematic punishment.”
[7] A quote from the Medical Forensic Explanation of the Shroud of Turin on the head and face wounds: “More than fifty puncture wounds are seen over the visible regions of the head. The crushing of the nose and the swelling of the eye and right cheekbone reveal the type of injuries that could have caused a blow from the stick; a cylindrical object about 4.5 cm in diameter. You can also see the lack of hair in the beard, as if pieces had been deliberately pulled out,” Ibid.
[8] “But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water,” John 19:33-34.
[10] The Pollen Grains on the Shroud of Turin: https://www.shroud.com/pdfs/ssi10part4.pdf
[11] Ibid.
[12] The Weave of the Shroud of Turin https://www.shroud.com/pdfs/stlmader2.pdf
