Shrouds have long held a special place among the sacred relics of Christendom. In the Middle Ages, shrouds, like holy relics, were the prize possessions of churches and cities. Cloaked in mystery, these artifacts have long been objects of reverence and awe, as well as sources of debates, quarrels, thefts, and excommunications. Shrouds - so some claim - provide visible testimony to faith. One in particular has drawn the interest of scholars, clergy, and the public alike: the Shroud of Turin. In The Shroud of Turin, Andrea Nicolotti chronicles the history of this famous cloth, including its circuitous journey from the French village of Lirey to its home in the Italian city of Turin, as well as the fantastical claims surrounding its origin and modern scientific efforts to prove or disprove its authenticity. Full of intrigue and mystery, The Shroud of Turin dismantles hypotheses that cannot survive the rigors of historical analysis. Nicolotti directly addresses the thorny problem of the authenticity of the relic and the difficult relationship between history, faith, and science.
Andrea Nicolotti is Professor of History of Christianity and the Churches at the University of Turin.Jeffrey M. Hunt is Senior Lecturer in Classics at Baylor University. R. A. Smith is Professor of Classics and Associate Dean of the Honors College at Baylor University.
Introduction to the English Edition Genealogical Stemma 1 One The Birth and Development of a Cult 1.1 The Fate of Jesus' Burial Cloths 1.2 Medieval Shrouds and Sudariums 2 The Shroud of Lirey-Chamb? (R)ry-Turin 2.1 Origins 2.2 Passage of the Shroud's Ownership 3 The Shroud in Piedmont 3.1 The Early Days of the Shroud in Turin 3.2 Between the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 4 The Shroud and Modernity 4.1 Science and History 4.2 The Fragility of the Hard Sciences 4.3 Between Monarchy and Republic 4.4 The Postconciliar Period 5 The Creation of a Myth 5.1 A Rebirth 5.2 The Invention of a Story 5.3 The Era of Radiocarbon 5.4 A Revival in the Third Millennium
This book constitutes the very best analysis of the history of the Shroud of Turin and of other competing shrouds, from antiquity to the present day. Relying on a complete reexamination of the documented evidence, this work is a masterpiece in its use of the methods of historical criticism. It is an antidote to the devotional and pseudoscientific literature put in circulation by those who believe in the authenticity of the relic. -- Fr. Pier Angelo Gramaglia, Professor Emeritus of Patrology, Theological University of Northern Italy Andrea Nicolotti's book is a work in which the author succeeds with masterful measure and proficiency in the far from simple task of combining questions of the past with the reality of the present. In his informed use of investigative tools drawn from diverse disciplines and fields, the author deploys a refined research technique and an intellectual sensibility, in so doing revealing a rare breadth of approach. -- Pier Giorgio Zunino, Member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin
