The Blind men, the Elephant and the Shroud of Turin

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As I have written, more than once, I find the community skeptical of the Shroud of Turin much like the blind men and the elephant. This morning, exasperated as usual by the "experts," who seek to cram the issue of Shroud authenticity in their area of expertise (like the art historian who claims to have solved the "mystery" of the image) I decided to do a little (very) research. My view is that there are three general disciplines with subgroups that must be addressed and an approach founded on only one or two of them will always come-up short: Religion, History and Science. Perhaps I should admit to a personal bias in that grouping because on graduation from high school, I won the gold medals in all three and although I did not pursue a career in science and religion, they have remained a life long interest. I have kept current.

It was 50 years ago that I had a moment of doubt about my faith in the existence of God when I learned that all of existence at the quantum level was subject to the law of probabilities. I resolved that issue intellectually when I asked myself the question: whose law is the law of probability? Why should cosmic chaos be organized in any way? Eventually, I arrived at a definition of God as the "primordial consciousness" from which our existence sprang. 

Yet, when I say some understanding of Science, History and Religion is essential to study of the Shroud, I must confess to a somewhat impish self-indulgence.

Yet, I can not escape my observation that when I read and participate in discussions and debate about the Shroud, so many are either side of the authenticity side of the argument seem like blind men (and women) arguing about the nature of an elephant. This morning I did a little research on the blind men issue and found on the web via Wikipedia the following couplet which is attributed to Buddha:

"O how they cling and wrangle, some who claim

For preacher and monk the honored name!

For, quarreling, each to his view they cling.

Such folk see only one side of a thing."

Jainism and Buddhism. Udana 68-69:

Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant

Pope John Paul II and the Carbon Testing Protocols

The sad truth is that responsibility for the flawed carbon dating rests as much as JPII shoulders as anyone. It was his personal decision to dramatically reduce the flawed protocols which called for more samples from other areas of the Shroud (still limiting  the amount taken to acceptable level).

He also  yielded to pressure from the radio carbon labs who claimed that further testing by the Shroud of Turin Research Project ( STURP) would be more intrusive than the radio carbon tests. In addition, as the result of previous lobbying by the carbon labs, STURP was excluded from the process of selecting the site(s) from which the   samples were selected. The results were that the samples site was selected without any reference to the STURP research would have demonstrated that the sample area was anomalous – it contained material of different composition from the rest of Shroud.

In fact the Oxford lab which was late in its report had received a report from a sub-contractor that there was ancient cotton in the sample that appeared to be part of a reweave  or had been interwoven when the linen.

There was a reason for JP II to short circuit everything that is  understandable: the shroud wasn't the only thing on his plate. At the time he was planning and executing  a ground breaking trip to Latin America where he cut Church ties to two dictatorships - Pinochet in Chile and Baby Doc Duvalier in Haiti.  

His faith in the authenticity of the Shroud led him, I believe, to make scientifically invalid judgment on the protocols.

But make no mistake about it, it was his determination. The final decisions were transmitted to the Archbishop of Turin in May 1987 in a secret letter of which the radio carbon labs were informed by their sources in the Vatican. As a matter of fact, the prime opponent of STURP (Rochester’s  Harry Gove), who was elated at the exclusion of STURP from the process, complained to the head of the British Museum that the resulting protocol was a “shoddy process.”

He was right about that but not to later crow that the results had proven the Shroud to be a fake. Although the Archbishop of Turin initially stated that the Church accepted the results he later recanted, and JPII referred to the Shroud in words that affirmed his belief inauthenticity..

JPII  can not escape responsibility for the protocols though. Better that it not have been done than that it was done by a scientifically shoddy process.

John C. Klotz

Behold the signs of the times.

How wondrous are the mysterious ways of God!

Maybe there was a reason for the flawed carbon dating that calls to mind something I have already written: The issue is not provenance but providence. Could it be that the erroneous carbon dating was a way of pushing the ball down the court to give science a time to catch-up with the “sign” of the Shroud and insure the controversy which would allow it to be again a center of attention?

And who should emerge as the preeminent spokesman for the Shroud but Barrie Schwortz, a man who in 1978 was a gangly young photographer and in the interim has now aged, and created the number one Shroud source on the web:  shroud.com And when it comes to providence, how is it that Barrie was first to register that name?

I kidded Barrie that his April sojourn  was like a missionary trek of St. Paul. But the astounding coverage given his interview with the Catholic New Service and other media outlets on his missionary journey has raised interest in the Shroud. Certainly his perspective, as one raised in a Jewish family who was reluctant to get involved, provides power to his message.

And now America, the Jesuit Magazine that Fr. Peter Rinaldi avoided in 1934 because of the sway of Shroud critic Rev. Herbert Thurston, S.J.,  reports on his views.  http://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/mystery-shroud

Behold the signs of the time! He is coming, but He  is coming not on a cloud but through science and the Internet.

Alleluia!

The Shroud of Turin: Henrietta Lacks and ASM carbon dating

It may seem stretch but there is a connection between the saga of Henrietta Lacks and ASM carbon testing. It’s simply this: greed. 

I had a conversation with someone well versed in the Shroud from way back. I spoke with him about trying to get the three labs to open up on their samples to see if they have a relationship to Ray Rogers findings. He said it would never happen because ASM carbon testing is now a billion dollar industry and the labs could never admit they were wrong because the financial repercussions would be horrendous. I immediately thought of Henrietta Lacks.

Here’s why.

Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman from Baltimore who died of cancer several decades ago. The Hospital preserved some of her stem cells and they were replicated and became the source of a billions of dollars industry. Her stem cells have built sky scrappers.

What did the estate of Henrietta Lacks get out of this: na da, nothing.

The C-14 testing of the Shroud was an entirely different procedure and industry. However, we are being naive (as I was) in thinking the labs would ever take any steps to jeopardize the validity of their most famous case – the Shroud of Turin. There is too much money at stake.

I am reminded in the story in the Gospel where Christ cured a women of possession but that the demons then went out an possessed a heard of swine which became enraged and stampeded over a cliff. The pig herders then drove Christ away. Salvation could wait, the money mattered more.

I think that enormous progress has been made but the C-14 tests have not yet made it to the dust bin of history. You can not serve God and Mammon. The scientists who stand-by the C-14 testing knowing it was flawed, have made a choice. So did the scientists who exploited Henrietta Lacks’ stem cells and never paid her heirs a dime.