Shruggin' At The Shroud

If you're in Turin, it stands to reason that you need to go see the famed Shroud of Turin, si?  Not so fast.  The Shroud is only made visible to the public every 10 years or so.  The best you can do -- unless you happen to be in Torino during a jubilee year or something -- is to go to a museum that explains the history of the Shroud, and that presents the evidence that it once was wrapped around a post-Crucifixion Jesus.  I did that yesterday morning.  I visited the Museo della Sindone (the Holy Shroud Museum).

The museum is charming.  There is a pleasant staff that did its best to chaperone me around.  They set up the English version of the 13-minute introductory DVD that every visitor gets to see, showed me into the follow-on rooms that showcase around 25 photos of the Shroud from the past 125 years or so, and then walked me down to the under-groud level that contains other exhibits intended to demonstrate the evidence backing up the Shroud's providence.  I appreciated their hospitality.  But count me as a skeptic.

Their evidence at best shows that the Shroud covered some dead guy at some point in time.  It perhaps shows that this man suffered some torture and a savage beating.  They presented no evidence as to the man's identity.  They presented no evidence regarding when he died and got shrouded.  On the claim that this man was the historical Jesus, I would grant summary judgment and dismiss the claim.