Book Review: Resurrection of the Shroud by Mark Antonacci

Resurrection of the Shroud: New Scientific, Medical, and Archeological Evidence by Mark Antonacci

The Shroud of Turin is a famous and controversial object, purported to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. Its history can only be traced back to the 1300s in Europe and the 1988 carbon dating gave it an age not more than a thousand years old. And yet there are so many strange details and unanswered questions.

This book looks at the history and science of the Shroud. First, a large amount of scientific information became available during the twentieth century, after the late nineteenth century discovery that the image on the Shroud is a photographic negative (photography only becoming prevalent in the 1800s). A few minor investigations happened in the early 1900s. An extensive scientific examination happened in 1978 when a team of scientists studied the image and the cloth in every imaginable way for several weeks. The group of scientists included medical examiners, radiologists, biologists, chemists, and pathologists. They photographed the Shroud in a wide array of lights as well as taking samples of the cloth and various items that were on the cloth (blood, pollen, etc.). The analysis yielded fascinating results.

One main focus of the scientific investigation was to prove or disprove various theories on how the image came to be on the cloth. They concluded that the great detail on the Shroud (over a hundred wounds can be identified from the nail piercings, the side wound, head punctures, bruises, and scourge marks) could not have been created by an artist. No traces of paint residue were found and the image is embedded in the topmost fibers of the cloth with no signs of brush strokes. The uniformity and precision of the image is not even possible today. Oddly, the image markings are not on parts of the cloth covered by the blood stains (they could tell it was type AB blood but there's no hope of getting DNA, so there's no chance to clone). Various attempts to recreate the Shroud image have failed, even wrapping a mannikin covered in paint. The detail does not come through; the image is smudged or blurred when the body is moved. The author theorizes the only way for the image to encode on the Shroud is if the body passed through the cloth at a high energy state (which would also account for higher levels of carbon-14, which would throw off the radiocarbon dating).

The book also looks at the history of the Shroud. The cloth's history can only be definitively be traced back to the 1350s in France. Antonacci traces the history forward from the stories of the Image of Edessa (which is in modern-day Turkey). The Image goes back to a story of King Abgar of Edessa asking for a cure from Jesus, though his message to Jerusalem arrived after the crucifixion. The apostles sent the burial shroud which became revered for a few centuries. With the rise of iconoclasm, it was hidden in the city wall until it was recovered in the sixth century. Then it was taken to Constantinople, the capital of what was left of the Eastern Roman Empire, where it was kept as a treasure. When the Knights Templar participated in the sack of Constantinople in 1204, it's assumed they took the Shroud which went to their various castles in turn, winding up in Paris in the early 1300s. The theory is supported by the variety of pollen discovered on the Shroud and on the sudden shift in iconography from a beardless Jesus to a bearded Jesus in the sixth century (as if artists were copying some newly discovered and highly honored image). 

The writing is very thorough and very technical at times. I found the reading tough in certain sections. He uses very similar arguments disproving various painting and imaging theories. Antonacci gives a very detailed description of the wounds on the Shroud and how they were inflicted. The detail isn't boring but it is excruciating. The history and the archaeology were more interesting to me. He also gives a detailed analysis of the radiocarbon dating and various flaws in how it was conducting (limited sampling and fewer labs analyzing, among other issues). 

Recommended for those interested in knowing more about the science and the history of the Shroud of Turin.