What Does the Bible Say About..? Logo

What Does the Bible Say About..The Shroud of Turin?

Does the Bible mention the shroud and exactly where could we find this reference?

Answer

If you mean the Shroud of Turin (or of Torino to use the name those covering the Olympics insist on using), I can’t tell you if the Bible mentions it. The problem is that nobody has ever been able to authenticate whether the shroud dates back to Bible times. If it does, there is no way of authenticating whose shroud it was. It might have been the shroud of somebody not mentioned in the Bible. It might have been the shroud of Lazarus (John 11), although the text seems to indicate no shroud was used. It might have been that of Jesus, although John 20:7 indicates that there was a separate cloth around his head. Based on the text in John 20, the Shroud of Turin is almost certainly not that of Jesus. Whether the Jews even buried in that sort of shroud is sometimes questioned. Some were wrapped more like mummies, rather than shrouded.