Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence That the World's Most Sacred Relic is Real

The Shroud of Turin remains one of the enduring mysteries of our age. No convincing explanation has yet been given for the "negative" image of a crucified man transferred to a length of cloth and preserved in Turin for the last four centuries. Although radiocarbon dating of the fabric in 1988 indicated it to be medieval, synchronous with the Shroud's first recorded appearance in the 1350s, there is still no satisfactory explanation for the image itself. Was it painted? If so, by whom? How could the artist have understood perspective before this technique was "discovered" in the Renaissance? How could he have painted an image in negative with no means to see and check it? With so many questions about the Shroud as inexplicably unresolved as ever; with the radiocarbon dating findings only deepening the riddle, not solving it; and with the Shroud about to be shown again, in 1998 and 2000; an overview and an up-to-date consideration of the evidence is overdue.