Customer center

We are a boutique essay service, not a mass production custom writing factory. Let us create a perfect paper for you today!

Example research essay topic: Shroud Of Turin Jesus Christ - 2,091 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

The Shroud of Turin has caused much controversy in the latter part of this century, most of it dealing with its authenticity. It is held by many that this is indeed the burial shroud of Jesus Christ, and the image found on the shroud was burned in-for lack of a better word-during the resurrection. This subject has appeared throughout numerous forms of media, ranging from television specials on networks such as Discovery and The Learning Channel, to magazines, newspapers, books and even the Internet. One should not be surprised that a host of web pages have dedicated themselves to one side of the argument or another. Despite the few arguments used to disprove its authenticity (which under light hold no real value), there is by far too much evidence to arrive at any other conclusion except that it is indeed the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. Disregarding the very extreme, doubting researchers in the field, the Shroud's history can be traced back undisputed to the Middle Ages where a French knight named Geoffrey de Charge was in possession of the Shroud, whom many say acquired it from Constantinople (Wilson).

After the knight's death, the Shroud stayed in his family as it was passed down to his son. By the early 1400 s, the Shroud was moved to the castle of Montfort as to protect it from hostile invaders (Markwardt). Over the next hundred years, the Shroud changed hands and places only to wind up at the Royal Chapel of Chamber Castle, as much fear that the constant moving might cause damage or destroy it caused it to reside there some time. Until the late 1800 s, the Shroud saw nothing more than the rare showings to the public and changed hands when necessary to protect it from the chaotic, war like state Europe seemed to be constantly in. It was not until 1898 when an Italian attorney, named Secundo Pia, took the first actual photograph of the Shroud (D'Muhala). Although the actual taking of the picture was of little historical importance, what happened when Secundo Pia developed the film, was.

The negative of the image seen, while the film was being produced, was startling. The negative of the Shroud upon the film, actually looked as if it were a positive (Appendix A fig. 3). This unforeseen event marked the Shroud of Turin's launch into the scientific age. In 1978, a public exhibition commemorating the 400 th anniversary of the Shroud was held. During this five-week period, the Shroud was publicly displayed to more than 3. 5 million visitors.

Later that year, a large group of scientists from the United States were brought to spend five days of continuo study of the Shroud (D'Muhala). Although the Shroud's history can only be undisputed traced back to the 1300 s, there was an item known as the Mandillion, which roughly means "the little towel that heals. " ("In Pursuit of the Shroud") It is recorded that this towel had the face of Jesus Christ on it and had certain healing powers. Its records began shortly after the crucifixion and writings of the New Testament and it traveled around much of the area. Eventually it found its way to Constantinople and spent its last recorded years there. According to the Mandillion's records, a French knight came through the city and reported seeing a cloth with the face of Christ Jesus upon it. One year later, the Crusades came and sacked the city, taking back the spoils of war to Western Europe.

It is at this point in time where the records of the Mandillion end, and the records of the Shroud of Turin begin. As a final point in regards to general history, one should also note that researchers have found that if the Shroud was folded along the major crease lines that are prominent in the linen, the Shroud of Turin becomes a small rectangle, with the face of Jesus in the center. ("In Pursuit of the Shroud"). Before discussing what the Shroud of Turin is, which after all is subjective, it is important to discuss what the Shroud clearly is not. The chief argument against the authenticity of the Shroud is saying that it is a painting from the Medieval Ages. This argument is maintained by the fact that tiny particles of iron oxide were found on the linen (iron oxide can be found in particular paints) and that carbon dating has placed the Shroud of Turin at about the Middle Ages (which will be addressed later). This statement, at least from those who believe it, is just another clear example of someone speaking about what they do not know.

After running tests for iron oxide, scientists found absolutely no correlation between the levels of iron oxide and the image. That is to say, iron oxide was spread uniformly throughout the cloth and thus it was not the remains of paint particles (D'Muhala). A paper done by Isabel Piczek, who is an accomplished painter (she has numerous contracts for painting cathedral ceilings and large murals on walls) and a respected authority when it comes to art history, states for a variety of reasons why the Shroud cannot be a painting. In her more recent paper on the Shroud, she states that the support, which is the linen cloth in this case, is untreated and that in itself causes a variety of problems for the paint to adhere to its surface for even a brief period of time-let alone stay in place for hundreds of years. If the Shroud were indeed a painting, or at least started out as one, the paint particles would have fallen off long ago. Secondly, if there were anything left of the image, as most likely all particles would have left the surface, it would have been blurred beyond recognition and found to be smeared across the entire linen.

A good analogy would be trying to paint on a sheet of aluminum with food coloring. The food coloring simply would not stick to the metal and would run off very easily, as there is no bond between the dye and the aluminum. She also states that the ground that medieval paints used is not found in the cloth at all. On Medieval art, one can do numerous tests that reveal what types of ground were used (assuming one did not simply look at the art, and refer back to when it was painted) and in all the tests done on the Shroud, none pointed to any ground whatsoever. Furthermore, there was no damage to the cloth found that one would expect to find after rolling and unrolling the cloth numerous times if indeed such medieval grounds had been used.

Such damage can easily been seen and replicated in other works of art (see Appendix A, fig. 4). Coming directly from her paper, she writes: "For a continuous image to exist on a painting, while the paint medium has returned to dust or just tiny glomerate's, leaving the millimicron pigment particles without tight adhesion to the ground or to the support would be totally against the laws of nature, scientifically unacceptable and a technically impossibility regarding the practice of art. This would be harder to explain than the Turin Shroud itself. " (Piczek) Jack Reilly, who is a professor of Art at the University of California, has been studying the Shroud for sometime. More importantly however, he has been studying the appearance of Jesus Christ in artwork as a whole and has also made observations that point to its authenticity (or at least, point away from its fraudulence).

Jesus Christ is the most illustrated person in history, but yet the Bible never said anything about what he looked like. Keeping this notion in mind, when one looks at the majority of paintings of Jesus, there are certain bounds, easily seen, that are universally kept within-despite the natural use of artistic license by the painters. For example: Why is Jesus always depicted with long hair, parted in the middle? Why does he always have a beard?

Why does he have an elongated nose? These and other such questions allow Jack Reilly to maintain that there was a common origin for those paintings, and this origin dates back much farther than the Medieval Era ("In Pursuit of the Shroud"). The paintings of Christ in the Middle Ages are very strikingly similar. Just by looking at the works of various arts and times, one can see that it is almost as if they were painting the same portrait, and not coming up with their subject from their imagination. There are a number of markings that all the paintings possessed, and are well known by art historians.

The most obvious two of these markings are the large, owl-like eyes and the elongated nose. On all depictions the forehead is marked with a long, deep continuous line, while just below that line, center and above the bridge of the nose, one can make out a three-sided square. The hair is also parted in the middle, with two strands down the forehead. These, among others, lend serious weight to the fact that the artists of all the paintings had some sort of common model on which to reference ("In Pursuit of the Shroud"). Whatever the paintings were modeled after, it can also be found on a coin that dates back to 695 AD. On the coin is a crude, but easily recognizable, figure of what looks like the same representation as that of the medieval paintings.

Along the edge of the coin, in Latin, is the English translation "Jesus Christ, King of Kings. " It is quite obvious that whoever made the forge, thought that Jesus Christ looked like that of what was on the coin ("In pursuit of the Shroud"). If one looks at the coin, the medieval paintings, and the Shroud of Turin, one would find that they all look almost exactly alike with regards to the most prominent features. The simple fact is that two of the three were modeled after the third as all three being modeled after a fourth is highly improbable and there is no evidence that points to the idea. Clearly it is impossible that the coin was forged while looking at the paintings, as the coin was made six centuries before the paintings, and it is almost as impossible that a forger-if the Shroud is indeed a forgery-looked at the coin while creating the Shroud. The only option that remains is that both the coins and the medieval paintings, were either produced while looking at the Shroud or a copy of the Shroud. The image itself can be broken down into three parts (see Appendix A fig. 1 and 2).

The first, and most noticeable, are the long burn marks on the either side of the Shroud of Turin which came about in a fire that nearly destroyed it. Secondly, one can see the image itself along the center of the Shroud. Thirdly, there are visible bloodstains in many parts along the image of the body. There are some very unique properties that the image upon the Shroud of Turin possesses, which are not found anywhere else. For example, one fiber of the linen will have a color change (part of the image) while the fiber next to it will not. Furthermore, there are some areas of the Shroud where the image is only 1 / 500 th of an inch thick.

To date, there is no known way to replicate this ("In Pursuit of the Shroud"). In addition, the level of detail in this image is so good, that any medical examiner can treat the Shroud as an x-ray and do a complete autopsy. A full autopsy report from Robert Buckling, M. D. , J. D. , who has been an active Forensic Pathologist and personally examined over 25, 000 bodies, can be found in the link in the works cited list. However, what holds a great deal of weight, if nothing else he says, is the near the last section of his paper that he writes: "It is the ultimate responsibility of the medical examiner to confirm by whatever means are available to him the identity of the deceased, as well as to determine the manner of this death.

In the case of the Man on the Shroud, the forensic pathologist will have information relative to the circumstances of death by crucifixion which he can support his anatomic findings. He will be aware that the individ...


Free research essays on topics related to: jesus christ, shroud of turin, middle ages, medical examiner, traced back

Research essay sample on Shroud Of Turin Jesus Christ

Writing service prices per page

  • $18.85 - in 14 days
  • $19.95 - in 3 days
  • $23.95 - within 48 hours
  • $26.95 - within 24 hours
  • $29.95 - within 12 hours
  • $34.95 - within 6 hours
  • $39.95 - within 3 hours
  • Calculate total price

Our guarantee

  • 100% money back guarantee
  • plagiarism-free authentic works
  • completely confidential service
  • timely revisions until completely satisfied
  • 24/7 customer support
  • payments protected by PayPal

Secure payment

With EssayChief you get

  • Strict plagiarism detection regulations
  • 300+ words per page
  • Times New Roman font 12 pts, double-spaced
  • FREE abstract, outline, bibliography
  • Money back guarantee for missed deadline
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Complete anonymity of all our clients
  • Custom essays
  • Writing service

EssayChief can handle your

  • essays, term papers
  • book and movie reports
  • Power Point presentations
  • annotated bibliographies
  • theses, dissertations
  • exam preparations
  • editing and proofreading of your texts
  • academic ghostwriting of any kind

Free essay samples

Browse essays by topic:

Stay with EssayChief! We offer 10% discount to all our return customers. Once you place your order you will receive an email with the password. You can use this password for unlimited period and you can share it with your friends!

Academic ghostwriting

About us

© 2002-2024 EssayChief.com