If the headline sounds like clickbait with an ulterior motive, keep reading. You will learn the only “motive” is seeking the truth about the world’s most analyzed and revered artifact — the Shroud of Turin. The $1 million “Challenge” to replicate the Shroud is a serious, complex, scientific-based contest with comprehensive religious implications backed by a wealthy donor who requests to remain anonymous.
Let’s begin with some basic facts and background needed to understand the context and significance of the Challenge. The Shroud of Turin is a mysterious 14 ft. x 3 ft. linen burial cloth bearing an unexplained bloodstained image of a crucified man that millions worldwide believe is the biblically-mentioned linen that wrapped Jesus in the tomb. In modern-speak, the Shroud is often called “the world’s first selfie.”
Since 1578, the Shroud of Turin has resided in Turin, Italy — thus the name. Amazingly, modern science has yet to determine how the man on the cloth’s anatomically correct front-to-back mirror image was formed, along with a long list of miraculous properties. Seen on the “Man of the Shroud” are historically accurate wounds inflicted by Roman instruments of torture as described in the New Testament. Moreover, the fact that the linen burial cloth still exists is a miracle. And, related to the $1 million “Challenge,” the image of this tall, muscular man in his 30s has never been successfully replicated.
In 1978, the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP), comprised of over 30 highly regarded U.S. scientists, was granted permission to examine the Shroud by the then owner, King Umberto II – Duke of Savoy. (After the Italian king died in 1983, the Shroud was bequeathed to the Pope.) STURP famously concluded that the Shroud “was not the product of an artist” and, therefore, could be authentic. Suddenly, the Shroud was mainstream news, especially in June 1980 when National Geographic magazine featured a 24-page article with a four-page foldout, “How Science Seeks to Solve the Mystery of the Shroud.”
Then, in 1988, a shocking event denigrated the Shroud for decades, which continues to this day. It began after the Vatican authorized the world-renowned British Museum to supervise the Shroud’s carbon-14 dating test. Subsequently, with much fanfare, in October of 1988, the Museum announced that the Shroud was a fake, produced between 1260 and 1390.
Immediately, scientists and Shroud experts around the globe criticized the Museum’s methodology, which violated their established protocols, compromising the accuracy of the Museum’s conclusions. Suspiciously, for 29 years, the British Museum refused to release its raw data until 2017, when French researcher Tristan Casabianca forced legal action. For two years, Casabianca and his scientific team analyzed the long-hidden 1988 data and, in 2019, concluded that the 1260 -1390 dates were unreliable. Their report “Radiocarbon Dating of the Turin Shroud: New Evidence from Raw Data” was published in the scholarly journal Archaeometry.
That said, meet the United Kingdom’s David Rolfe. He is a multi-award-winning British filmmaker with over 90 documentaries. In 1978, Rolfe won a British Academy Award for his groundbreaking film “The Silent Witness,” revealing the Shroud of Turin’s unique, mysterious properties before STURP scientists released their findings in 1981.
Fast forward to 2022, when Rolfe produced “Who Can He Be?” another fascinating Shroud of Turin film. First, know the British Museum’s damning 1988 verdict proclaiming the Shroud a medieval fraud continues to plague the linen cloth — even after 2019 when the “medieval” moniker was proven false by the Museum’s raw data.
Second, in his “Who Can He Be?” film, Rolfe boldly offered the British Museum a “$1 Million Challenge” to replicate the medieval-dated burial shroud using only technology available to that unknown Middle Ages “artist.” As expected, Rolfe’s “Challenge” generated international headlines.
Third, after two years, the British Museum never responded to Rolfe’s Challenge, which birthed today’s “Challenge” headline. But for context, a brief explanation is needed.
Townhall readers might know me as the author of Sunday’s “A Quick Bible Study,” posted weekly since February 2020. I’m also Executive Director of the National Shroud of Turin Exhibit and honored to lead a team of 13 nationally known Shroud experts. Our mission is to produce a permanent Shroud exhibit in Washington, D.C.
While in London last September, I had the pleasure of meeting esteemed members of the British Shroud Society, including David Rolfe. I knew of Rolfe from his 2022 headline-making “$1 Million Challenge,” along with his Shroud films “Who Can He Be?” and “Silent Witness.”
During lunch, I asked David about the status of his $1 million Challenge to the British Museum, and he said the Museum had never responded. Hearing that news, I inquired if my National Shroud of Turin Exhibit team could promote an expansion of the $1 million Shroud Challenge to any person, group, or institution within the USA.
After David received the green light from his benefactor, our teams produced the detailed information required for one to enter and potentially win the USA $1 Million Challenge. The winning replica must comply with all the established measurable criteria based on extensive modern analysis of the Shroud.
This week at the February 8 press conference after the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, members of the National Shroud of Turin Exhibit team, David Rolfe and I officially announced the “$1 Million Challenge to Replicate the Shroud of Turin” expanded to the USA.
Rolfe’s film “Who Can He Be” and the Challenge complement our forthcoming National Shroud of Turin Exhibit, to be named “World’s Greatest Mystery.” We seek the truth about the Shroud of Turin, asking, “Who Can He Be?” and “Who Do You Say I Am?”
While seeking the truth, I quote “the Man of the Shroud,” who I believe is Jesus Christ and taught his disciples: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Myra Kahn Adams is Executive Director of the National Shroud of Turin Exhibit and SignFromGod. Both are educational donor–supported ministries dedicated to building a permanent Shroud of Turin exhibit in Washington, D.C. The first exhibit is a life-sized Shroud replica on K Street, a few blocks from the White House.
Cross-posted at Townhall and Substack.
