Before his resignation took effect, Pope Benedict XVI authorized a rare television broadcast that will display the Shroud of Turin. The Vatican described this as Benedict's final gift to the Roman Catholic Church. One may ask about the significance of this gift. In response, on March 27, the public is invited to hear from one of the foremost Canadian experts on the Shroud, Phillip Wiebe, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy at Trinity Western University, as he gives a lecture entitled The Shroud of Turin: Authenticity and Significance for Theology.
“The Shroud goes on public exhibit, on average, only three or four times a century, and then for only several months,” said Wiebe, a founding member of the The Vancouver Shroud Association. “It remains an object of public interest, and mystery concerning its origins continues to grow, even as scientific work on it advances – although this is much limited by virtue of restricted access.”
The Shroud image looks like a photographic negative. In other words, only when photography was developed did the world see a vivid positive image of the shroud. Computer analysis of its light and dark areas revealed an encoded topography, or three-dimensional information, that assisted graphic artists in rendering what many believe to be the face of Jesus.
Wiebe’s lecture will feature a full-sized photo of the Shroud, some 14 feet of it, in full colour. Since most of the photos of the Shroud develop it monochromatically, this is rarely seen.
Some say the Shroud offers to supplement evidence for the Resurrection. “I think that empirical evidence for the worldview found in Christian faith is needed to defend it as rational,” said Wiebe. Generally, Protestants are taught to trust the Bible and Catholics are taught to trust the Church; however, as a young man Wiebe—a self-proclaimed ‘Empirical Christian’—trusted neither.
“I felt that evidence for the Resurrection in the Bible was seriously flawed and never expected to embrace it,” he said. Wiebe’s research interests also involve visions and apparitions of Jesus Christ. He is the author of God and other spirits: intimations of transcendence in Christian experience and Visions of Jesus: direct encounters from the New Testament to today, both from Oxford University Press.
The lecture will run in two parts with a coffee break in between. It will conclude with a question and answer period.
Event at a Glance
Event:
The Shroud of Turin: Authenticity and Significance for Theology
Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Time: 6:30 pm.
Location: Northwest Auditorium, Trinity Western University
Cost: No charge
Contact: For more information contact Phillip Wiebe, (604) 888-7511 ext. 3334, or pwiebe@twu.ca