Have just read this great article on the turin shroud. The author, himself an artist, analyses the anatomy of the figure on the shroud. He concludes that it is grossly abnormal:
The best explanation is, of course, that its a mediaeval fake. Before the Renaissance, artists' knowledge of anatomy was rather limited, so the distortions of the figure aren't surprising (Leonardo or Michaelangelo would've done a much better job!).
But now the pope has gone off the proverbial deep end and given the shroud his infallible seal of authenticity. Does this mean that devout catholics now must believe that Jesus was severely deformed, including a miniscule brain?
Quote:If Jesus had the proportions of the image in the shroud, then he was a severely deformed and pathological person who would have cut a shocking figure as he walked down the streets and paths of the Holy Land. Exceptionally tall for his time and place, his rather narrow head was so shrunken and low browed that it would have indicated a unique form of hypocephaly so serious that it would have impaired his mental function, leaving his intellectual performance similar to that of protohuman. Overly long arms would have hung at his sides, with one exceptionally elongated, the other less so because of an atrophied lower arm.
The best explanation is, of course, that its a mediaeval fake. Before the Renaissance, artists' knowledge of anatomy was rather limited, so the distortions of the figure aren't surprising (Leonardo or Michaelangelo would've done a much better job!).
But now the pope has gone off the proverbial deep end and given the shroud his infallible seal of authenticity. Does this mean that devout catholics now must believe that Jesus was severely deformed, including a miniscule brain?
