Shroud of Turin compels decades of studyBy Sharon McBrayer | The News Herald October 5, 2008 Valdese - Dr. Frank Steele has been studying the Shroud of Turin since the 1960s.
He first became interested in it after his brother handed him a book on the subject and told him to read three pages.
"I was hooked," Steele said.
The shroud is a linen cloth that bears the image of a crucified man. Many believe that man was Jesus of Nazareth and the cloth was placed on him at the time of his death.
Still others believe the cloth is a hoax; a fake that an artist or artists created.
A display on the shroud was opened on Sunday in one of the art galleries at the Old Rock School in Valdese as part of the Art of Science Exposition.
The Shroud of Turin is kept in the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy. It was there in 1978, along with 3 million other people that Steele got a first-hand look at the shroud.
Steele is convinced the shroud is authentic.
Steele talked to folks at the Old Rock School on Sunday about the display and about his research and knowledge of the shroud.
With photos of the shroud hanging on the wall of the gallery, Steele points out various items on the photo, such as the wrist of the image. He said there is a separation in bone along the wrist that would be in line with a crucifixion. He also points out an area of the chest that suggests a hole.
Steele also points out two rows of teeth, which he says suggests a type of X-ray image. The shroud has been kept in Turin since the 1500s.
The person who was covered in the shroud, though, was only in it for four days, Steele said.
How, then, did an image of a person become imposed on the cloth?
Steele said all of the Biblical accounts of the resurrection of Christ differ in some ways but each one mentions bright light. That light or energy is what Steele believes produced the image.
So what is the significance of the shroud?
"It's information about Jesus," Steele said. "If it's real, then this man was real and he died exactly the way they said he did."
The shroud display will be at the Old Rock School for six weeks, said Elizabeth Furr, director of Rock School Arts Foundation.
Steele will give an in-depth lecture on the Shroud at 7 p.m. on Oct. 23 in Gallery II of the Old Rock School.
http://www2.morganton.com/content/2008/oct/05/051947/Shroud-of-Turin-compels-decades-of-study/