Back in the News,
The story of the Shroud of Turin is fascinating. It began, for me, ironically when I thought the "story"
had finally been laid to rest. Carbon 14 dating conducted in 1988 (quite near my graduation from college)
had just proved that the Shroud was
medieval. Along with most, I accepted these results--the fact that two of my former Alma Maters (The University of Arizona and
Oxford University—although I spent most of my
Oxford days dodging back and forth between
Lincoln and Exeter colleges, oblivous about anything I was not studying) were involved in the testing lent to me a comfortable sense of closure (to give them their due, scientists from the Institut für Mittelenergiephysik in Zurich, Columbia University, and the British Museum were also involved in the tests).
I was re-engaged by the Shroud story in 2005 when an article in the scholarly, peer-reviewed, scientific journal
Thermochimica Acta by an equally eminent scientist,
Raymond N.
Rogers, of the Los Alamos National Laboratory; subverted the 1988 tests. Very briefly, the sample cut from the Shroud in 1988 was shown not to be valid. In fact, the article noted, the Shroud was much older than the carbon 14 tests suggested.
Curiouser and curiouser. . . and I'll leave the story at this juncture. If you are interested, see the following site:
http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/pantocrator.htmJim