The description of the man who was apparently buried in the shroud has also been enlightening. The scientific team pathologist and other medical doctors determined that the man was crucified and was dead, with his body in a state of rigor mortis. The man’s injuries were the same as the Gospel reports of Jesus’ crucifixion. The most interesting facet of this study is that many unnatural things were done to Jesus and these same types of things appeared on the shroud.
Both men suffered a series of punctures throughout the scalp from many sharp objects, a seriously bruised face, a horrible whipping (over 100 wounds from this beating have been counted on the shroud), abrasions on both shoulders from a rough, heavy object, and contusions on both knees. Both men had the more normal wounds associated with crucifixion; namely, punctured feet and wrists. Strangely, both men escaped having their ankles broken, as was normal, but both had post
20 Ibid., Chapter 4.
21 For an authoritative description of some of the proposed tests to be performed on the shroud, see Kenneth E. Stevenson, Editor, Proceedings of the 1977 United States Conference on the Shroud of Turin(Bronx: Holy Shroud Guild, 1977).
22 See Stevenson and Habermas, Verdict, chapters 5–6 and Appendix A. See also John Heller, Report on the Shroud of Turin(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983), especially chapters 12–14.
mortem chest wounds instead, from which blood and watery fluid flowed. Both men were buried hastily in fine linen and were buried individually.^23
Indications that the man buried in the shroud could be Jesus come from the correspondence between the two. They agree even down to the small details in about one dozen areas that were not normal crucifixion procedures. The chances are seemingly minimal that two men would have so many agreements, especially in points of abnormal circumstances. Also, no areas of contradiction apparently exist. It should additionally be remembered that the shroud has been kept for hundreds of years as the actual burial garment of Jesus, long before such scientific testing could be done. While this last point by no means demonstrates the shroud’s authenticity in any sense, it does show further a possible relationship between Jesus and the man buried in the shroud.^24
