The Shroud of Turin is an article of linen that measures 4, 36 m X 1, 10 m, which is found under the custody of the Roman Catholic Church, in Turin. It has been object of worship by fundamentalists and study by the scientists, the latter divided into a few that believe it to be fake, and many – even agnostic ones – who say it is true. The authenticity stated by many does not include the statement that it is really the article of cloth that was in touch with Jesus’ body. They just claim to be convinced this is not a fake, of a regular piece of cloth from the Middle Age, as many others have been before, acquiring the condition of relics and start being worshipped by people. 

The Shroud started to become famous in the XIV century, precisely in the year 1357, when it was exposed by Joana de Vergy, the owner’s wife. Later, it belonged to the Savoia family, and it was, some time ago, donated to the Catholic Church. 

A test with Carbon-14 denies that the Shroud is a piece of cloth from the first century of the Christian era. Some scientists present, against the authenticity of these tests, two strong arguments: the fact that it was cooked in oil, in the Middle Age, in an attempt to prove it was a recent painting, and to be exposed to two fires in the places where it was, and in one of these events the silver box where it remained melted down. The fire, on both occasions, did not damage it seriously. 

Although we have it as a basis, we do not intend here to repeat everything that is written in the American book, translated into Portuguese as “The Truth About the Shroud”, by Kenneth E. Stevenson and Gary R. Habermas, who counted on the direct collaboration of professionals in the area of Medicine, Physics, Biophysics, Chemistry and Photography, besides basing themselves on other researchers, from France and Italy. 

The aforementioned authors have no doubt it is the real cloth which got in touch with Jesus’ body, being folded covering it, reason why it shows two pictures, one in the front and other on the back. The authors claim that exams about blood and plasma were taken, and Eastern pollen, cotton fibers, besides being proved that the body had been whipped, that it had received a crown of spines upon the head, that had part of the beard taken off, that the wrists and feet were hurt, and it was hit in the left side, after dead. Besides, it showed signs that two coins had been put upon his eyes to keep them shut, according to the customs. By no means, according to the authors, the Picture of the Shroud goes against the accounts of the “New Testament”. 

However, none of these researches has got to explain how the Picture remained in the cloth. They claim it is not a painting, not even by ink, fire, or any other process known either in the Middle Age, or in current times. It has been verified, by all the researchers, that the fibers are marked only on the surface, having no trace of paint or ink, which, no matter how careful it could be, would penetrate into the fibers. It should be pointed out that the Picture does not show distortions as would be natural if the cloth was put over the body to get its impressions. 

Many hypotheses have been raised to explain such picture: the use of acid, steam, burning produced by heat; radiation of high energy; atomic radiation. Furthermore, it should be said that the image looks like a photo and the picture was the electric charge.  

Because of the difficulty to produce such a piece, a scientist stated: “We needed more than a miracle to show the Shroud as a fake and not as an authentic thing”.  

And Yves Delage, member of the Académie Française, agnostic, stated: “A religious problem was unnecessarily injected into a subject that is, itself, purely scientific... If, instead of Christ, it was someone else, like Sargon, Achilles or one of the pharaohs, no one would have thought of an objection... I recognize Christ as a historical personage and I see no reason to justify the fact that someone feels outraged because there are still traces of his earthly life...” 

“Jesus appeared dressed up like an average man
and Magdalene, as she saw his back,
thought he was a gardener” 

Other researchers, including the authors, who, as they were Catholic, from the limit the Science got on, appealed for the “supernatural”, once it was proved the fact the body had not suffered any process of decomposition upon the Shroud. They claim a miracle took place, God’s direct intervention, which allowed Jesus to arise with his corporeal body. 

They do not explain, however, how Jesus appeared dressed up like an average man – to the point that Magdalene, as she saw his back, thought he was a gardener –, if his body was laid naked upon the Shroud, as the picture shows. They also do not explain why Jesus started acting in a total different way of what he did before the ordeal: he would appear and disappear suddenly; he would cross closed doors; he has never been to anyone house’s anymore; he would not eat as he used to. 

I wonder if during these forty days between resurrection and ascension, Jesus did not want to show he was alive, but was not incarnated anymore. If his body was the same, why did not he act like this before? Why would he go back to “heaven”, taking a body he never had before? And, thinking like the dogma Catholic-Protestant, of Jesus being God himself incarnated – or at least a third of the Trinity –, how could he take a material body created on Earth and add it to Deity? In this case, God would not be complete up to then, because what is already complete does not need any further addition... Besides, this thought would be plausible during the Middle Age, when Earth was considered the Center of the universe, but today, with what we already know about the Cosmos, such theory is unacceptable, even if the Universe were formed only by our galaxy, The Milky Way. 

The authors got to the thesis of resurrection in a spiritual body, calling it as the naturalist thesis. They deny it. Even quoting the First Epistle to the Corinthians, in its chapter 15, but they do it incompletely, because they set aside the verses 35, 36, 37, 40, 42, 44 and 50, in which the Apostles asked with body we are going to resurrect, answering, himself, that we have two bodies: the spiritual one and the animal one, saying: “t is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual”. And, to be clearer, he says: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” 

As they left the condition of researchers and took the one of theologians, the authors say that the resurrection of Jesus happened through the direct intervention of God and it will never happen again. After such a statement it is worth to ask with which kind of body Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus, at Tabor, as written in the New Testament (Mt, 17: 1 a 13; Mc, 9: 1 a 13; Lc, 9: 28 a 36). How could they appear, so materialized, in a way that Peter proposed the construction of three huts, one for Jesus, another one for Moses and another for Elijah, according to the Scriptures? What kind of body did they have, if the resurrection of Jesus never happened before?   

There are no references about the Shroud in the Standard Works of Spiritism. However, based on mediumistic experiences and revelations done by the Spirits, we can raise some hypotheses: 

André Luiz (Workers of Eternal Life, chap. 15 and 16), in two situations, reveals that the workers remove the energies that remain in the corpse; before it has been buried, in order to protect it from stray Spirits. In face of that, we can ask: who would have conditions to remove the energy in the body of Jesus, but himself? And as he did it, would it keep being materialized? What is the point of Jesus leaving in the grave his material body that would be useful to him, once that, even though it could no longer be explored by Spirits who wanted to have the remaining fluids, would definitely be by the preachers interested in erasing any sort of evidence that reminded us of the Master? What would happen if the tomb was not effectively empty: they would promote a corpse display, saying that Jesus appearances were false. 

Jesus never looked to convince anyone that the body which was his instrument for his appearances after disincarnating was not material anymore. He intended, though, to prove the victory of life over death. This for the time, was enough. However, as he was seen by Saul, on the Road of Damascus, the latter understood perfectly the immateriality of that luminous body. Then, his declarations to the Corinthians, cited before. 

“Spiritism could show that Jesus’ appearances did not
mean a derogation of eternal laws” 

But, if Jesus dematerialized his body, how could he leave evidence that he was not taken off the cross still alive – as some people want – and taken to a distant place, where he would keep on living? One can suppose he had left the radiations produced by the dematerialization marked in the Shroud the picture of his body, which had been put over a part of the cloth and covered by another one. 

Jesus’ words, when he promises the Comforter, help understand why he decided not to speak anymore about the subject, leaving the explanations for later, when Science had advanced and could study and explain such a phenomenon. For when the knowledge of men have broadened, so that they could understand the lesson with no words about immortality, when they had conditions to understand the accidental – and not essential condition – of the material body. Shall we analyze his words: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now?” (Jo, 16: 12). And also: “but the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, *he* shall teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance all the things which I have said to you.” (Jo, 14: 26). 

Spiritism, in its role as the Comforter promised by Jesus, came to remind us the sublime lesson of immortality left by our Master, getting away from all the fantasies created by theologians, clergies and ignorant ones, taking away its miraculous character, magical, unreal, and bringing it to the field of clear thought, logical and coherent. Supported by Science, the Spiritism could, centuries later, shows that Jesus’ appearances do not mean a derogation of eternal laws. Countless experiments of materialization were taken to effect by renowned scientists, who proved to society that the disincarnating Spirit can materialize, becoming visible, hearable and tangible, as Arthur Conan Doyle tells us, in his book “History of Spiritism”, in which he quotes the testimonial of researches such as Sir William Crookes, Cesare Lombroso, Sir Oliver Lodge, Camille Flammarion, Charles Richet, among others.  

Prof. Crookes stands out, for his contribution to Science, and his titles. He discovered thallium, created the radiometer, the electronic tubes made by cathode for the production of X-Rays. He received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, the title of Sir from Queen Victoria, the Gold Medal, the Davy Medal, the Sir Joseph Copley Medal, in England. In France, he was awarded by the Science Academy, which conferred on him a gold medal and a prize of 3,000 francs.  This brilliant man Science also stands out in Psychic researches. During almost four years, he promoted sessions in which the Spirit Katie King materialized, which provided him opportunity to apply his entire scientific rigor in researches that convinced him and others, of their authenticity. Besides, the Spirit Katie King provided him with memorable occasions of living, not only with him, but also with other researchers and even relatives, including kids, as it is stated in the book “Spiritist Facts”, by himself. 

Some of these scientists accepted to research materialization phenomena, dematerialization and rematerialization, trying to prove it was unreal, but ended up being convinced, and . It is the case of William Crookes, who had the guts to declare he was convinced about the authenticity of these phenomena to the Royal Society of London, for the outrage of many members. This man of the Science, proving that every testimonial of the Truth is heavy, suffered the misunderstanding of his colleagues. 

The years which followed the publication of the Standard Works of Spiritism, there was this great wave of researches of such phenomena, which results are registered in an extensive bibliography that can be consulted by those who are free from religious dogmas. 

Concluding, we get to the most plausible hypothesis for the Shroud: if it is really the piece of linen in which Jesus was on, the clearer, more rational and logical explanation – free from any idea of derogation of Natural Laws and miracle – is the one Spiritism provides us. It is a thought that comes to explain, not to confuse. A thought plausible to our mind, contrary to the resurrection one.