Resurrection
The Nicene Creed reads“...For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures…”. Inspired by the Risen Christ, we planned episode seven of the Science and Faith series around the greatness of this Biblical event.
We invited Prof. Sir Colin Humphreys who told us about the astronomical, historical and theological research he does in his spare time which allowed him to revisit the dating of the events surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection; in particular, The Last Supper. We felt very privileged as Prof. Humphreys shared with us a series of events from his professional career that he has never spoken about before. Despite the outstanding peer-reviews, he faced some opposition from within the infamous journal Nature, where his paper was finally published in 1983, but not allowed on the front cover of the Journal.
Prof. Peter Wadhams and David Rolfe delighted us with an account of the historicity of The Shroud of Turin and how the scientific, as well as the Catholic, community received the initial evidence obtained from its study. We were able to discuss various controversies associated with The Shroud and critically analyse whether any insight can be gained from this relic about the events of the Resurrection or even the glorious body of the Risen Christ. Finally, they updated us on current investigations and plans for the future.
If you were called to be involved in a research team with access to the shroud, and were able to take samples again, what questions would you want to answer? What experiments would you carry out?
Shroud Event:
On Saturday April 3rd 2021, there will be an extraordinary veneration of the Shroud in the Turin Cathedral, which will be broadcast live around the world on television and on social media platforms: https://www.shroud.com/latebrak.htm
Shop:
Prof. Colin Humphreys’ The Mystery of the Last Supper: Reconstructing the Final Days of Jesus
Prof. Peter Wadhams’ A Farewell to Ice https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/118212/peter-wadhams.html
Resources:
Vatican Observatory Foundation https://www.vofoundation.org/faith-and-science/about/
Christians in Science https://www.cis.org.uk/resources/
Faraday Institute for Science and Religion https://www.faraday.cam.ac.uk
Interactive Science and Faith workshops https://gatbb.co.uk
