Scientists Say "Shroud of Turin" Not a Medieval Forgery

Much older

Experiments conducted by scientists at the University of Padua in northern Italy have dated the shroud to ancient times, a few centuries before and after the life of Christ.

Many Catholics believe that the 14ft-long linen cloth, which bears the imprint of the face and body of a bearded man, was used to bury Christ's body when he was lifted down from the cross after being crucified 2,000 years ago.

Comments

[Professional Target]

So it's a much earlier forgery?

[Sevo]

..."a few centuries before and after the life of Christ."...
There's not a shred of evidence such person existed, so pick another reference.

[Heroic Mulatto]

There's not a shred of evidence such person existed

That's overegging the pudding a bit. Josephus writes of Jesus in his history of the Jewish Wars. There's just as much evidence that Jesus existed as there is for the existance of Julius Caesar or Cicero.

[phandaal]

Accepting that the books in the Bible were a chronicle of the times doesn't mean that one has to accept that Jesus was a god. There is way more than one shred of evidence that the historical (non-miraculous) facts mentioned in the Bible are accurate, including the people involved. There have even been instances where historical references from the Bible which were thought to be untrue were actually validated as more evidence was found.

For more information, you could look at a book called "More than a Carpenter" by Josh McDowell. It's short and easy to read. It's not a non-Christian book, but I didn't catch fire while reading it so you should be alright.

[Jon Lester]

To another extreme, I don't think the church is too anxious to explore the possibility that historical Jesus was something alien...