Shroud of Turin & Science - podcast episode cover

Shroud of Turin & Science

Jun 26, 202512 minSeason 3Ep. 30
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Episode description

What if science could support faith?

In this gripping episode of The Backstory on the Shroud of Turin, host Guy R. Powell interviews Bob Rucker, a veteran nuclear engineer who has spent over a decade applying advanced scientific methods to the most studied relic in Christianity: the Shroud of Turin.

Rucker presents a comprehensive radiation-based theory of image formation and carbon date discrepancy. By simulating the behavior of neutrons and protons in a tomb environment, he shows how the Resurrection itself could have generated the very evidence we now study.

He covers:

·      The four evidences from the 1988 carbon dating that standard explanations cannot fully address

·      Why protons and neutrons released in a burst of radiation could form the image and skew the dating

·      His rebuttal to skeptics who claim faith doesn't need relics—and why we should care anyway

·      The possible link to the Sudarium of Oviedo

·      The deep theological implications of scientific evidence for Jesus’s Resurrection

Whether you’re a scientist, theologian, or simply curious, this episode offers a profound look into how God may be using the tools of science to strengthen faith.

🎥 Click here to view the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc8K2Y05ZOU

Transcript

Guy: [00:00:00] Hey, guy Powell here with the backstory on the Shroud of Turin. Today we're doing a series of interviews promoting the upcoming Shroud of Turrin conference that's taking place in St. Louis at the end of July, and the first couple of days in August. Today I am speaking with Bob Rucker, and he is a longtime researcher and speaker on the shroud, and he will also be, of course, speaking at the conference.

So, uh, let's dive in. Uh, welcome Bob. So good to have you,

Bob: uh, good to be here.

Guy: Yeah, absolutely. So what drew you, uh, first of all into learning and studying and researching the shroud of Turin?

Bob: Uh, well, when I was about 12 years old or so, uh, in this Sunday paper there, there was a little magazine that came out called Parade, and I saw a little picture, [00:01:00] maybe, you know, inch, inch and a half high, just of the face.

It looked like a strange looking face, but on, on the right hand side, little paragraph, about three or four sentences, last sentence I remember, uh, said, uh, many people believe that this is the, the burial cloth of Jesus. And at that time I thought, well, this can't possibly be true. I mean, if, if that were true, everyone would know about it, would be so well known and highly respected.

Why would anyone talk about anything else? You know? Uh, but then I, I, afterwards I thought, well, I need to be a little bit more open-minded than that. So, uh, then in a bookstore I saw a book on the shroud, and so I bought the book, and then years later I found another one and I bought that and I read them and.

So I became convinced just based upon the evidence that was being presented, that this probably really is the burial cloth of Jesus. Just amazing. Uh, and so I, I couldn't, uh, follow up on it, uh, at that time very much. 'cause I was very busy. I [00:02:00] was, uh, going to University of Michigan, took a master's degree in nuclear engineering.

There. Uh, and then I worked in the, in nuclear industry for about 38 years, and then after that, then I got into Shroud research, and I've been in it now for about, uh, 12 years, I'd say.

Guy: Yeah. Fantastic. Well, and your nuclear background and everything is, uh, directly tied to some of the insights that you'll be presenting at the shrouds.

Tell us a little bit about that.

Bob: Oh, yes. Well, some of the new items that I, I'll be presenting and I'll be speaking. Three times on the academic program and one time, uh, at the, the other program, the day pass or the public sessions? Yep. The public sessions. So I'll be speaking four times total, but the, I recently put out a paper on, uh, well, I've written about 14 papers on carbon dating, uh, and they're on my website, shroud research.net.

The last one on carbon dating was Paper 33, and the last paper on image formation was paper [00:03:00] 34. So I'm going to be bringing that information to the conference and then bringing any new information as well. I'm. On carbon dating, I'm currently involved in restarting the calculations that I completed in 2014 and I'm, these are nuclear analysis computer calculations.

On the shroud of Turin in an attempt to explain the carbon dating of the shroud. And I, I think this is going fairly well. I I was, there's actually not just one evidence for car, uh, related to carbon dating of the shroud, but there's actually four evidences and whatever concept actually explains the evidence has to explain all four of those evidences.

So it's not just the mean date of 1260 to 1390, but it's also the slope or gradient of the date of about 36 years per centimeter, 91 years per inch. It's also the range and the distribution. Of the [00:04:00] carbon dates for the 12 subsamples that were actually dated. And then there is is also the carbon date for the Cerium of Veda, which is believed to be the face cloth of Jesus.

So the correct explanation for the carbon dating has to be consistent with all four of those evidences, not just the one, because if you say that the must have been from 1260 to 1390. Then you can't explain the other three evidences of carbon dating, which is very interesting. And then on, on image formation, I have a concept that's a radiation based, I believe it, the images, the front and back, full size.

Uh, images of a crucified man that can be seen on this piece of cloth was caused by a burst of radiation from the body. But it's often assumed that when you say that, you mean that it's, it's due to radiation damage. But I'm not referring to that. Uh, I'm actually, I recognize that it's not due to radiation damage, but I [00:05:00] believe it's due to deposition of.

Electrical charges, uh, on the cloth, which causes an alternating current in the fibers, which actually deposits heat exactly where the fibers are discolored. Uh, and so I think that's the best explanation. You see, only one really that fully is consistent with the evidence, I think. Yeah. And so, so those different issues are gonna be discussed.

I'm gonna be presenting. My latest concepts, the latest thinking I've done on image formation. But, uh, thi this concept is the only concept that. Makes an attempt even to explain both the image formation and the carbon dating because they're related. So the burst of radiation released protons and neutrons and the protons form the image, I believe, and the neutrons shifted the carbon date to a, a more recent date.

Uh, the electrons involved, uh, would've also been released, and, and that caused several different [00:06:00] electrostatic effects. Related to the shroud of Torrent, and I'll be discussing that in the conference as well. That's not really been discussed.

Guy: Yeah. Yeah. Well that is so fantastic and, uh, we're gonna tease the, uh, the audience on this and that is that, uh, you know, here we have the, uh, one refutation of the, of the carbon dating, and then one of the other, uh, theories is the, the fact or the, the, the hypothesis that there was some.

Cotton or modern material mixed with the, mixed with the samples. So we're gonna be talking about that. And then I think the other question that comes up a little bit in my mind is, um, on the 12 samples that were carbon tested, do we have the actual, uh, sequence in which they were tested as they were, uh, positioned on the cloth and cut from the cloth?

Bob: Well that, you know, that's an interesting question and unfortunately I don't believe that they recorded that. 'cause we've never had any report. It was not in the document that was published in [00:07:00] 19 80, 89 on the carbon dating, but ba based on, on my concepts of neutron distributions in the tomb, both. In in two different directions, X and Y directions.

I believe that I can back out where those 12 subsamples were located based upon the results that were obtained. Hmm. So, so I'm currently involved in attempting to run a. Many, many neutrons. I ran one ca, one case for nine days. I followed 2.2 billion neutrons to try and get enough new carbon 14 produced in the subsamples as such.

Well, we're, the uncertainty would be small enough.

Guy: Yeah. One question that I run into quite a bit, and maybe more so with Protestants than with uh, Catholics, and not to differentiate that strongly between the two, but you know, one thing that I hear quite often is, Hey, my faith is strong enough. I don't need a relic to prove that there was a, you know, that Christ existed and lived on the earth and, and was resurrected.

How do [00:08:00] you, uh, you know, how do you respond to that?

Bob: Well, you know, you might have a very strong faith, but your neighbor doesn't, and he needs the ur and, and I find it very attractive to many people when they see. Evidence for the front and back image of a crucified man. That is obviously Jesus. That's what I would say because all the features on this cloth are exactly.

What was described of Jesus in, in the gospels, in the New Testament as to how he was crucified. So it was either Jesus or it was a person that was crucified to copy Jesus. And then I go one step further and I say, well, that's just one criteria. The other criteria I. Is that you have to have a burst of radiation from the body to explain the image formation and the carbon dating.

And both of those criteria are only fulfilled by Jesus in his resurrection. So that what we end up with here is that the shroud of turn is scientific evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, [00:09:00] and that changes everything.

Guy: Yeah. And that is a, uh, that's a powerful message and we'll certainly be touching on that and di diving into that in great detail at the, uh, shroud conference.

So lastly, uh, um, how has the shroud affected your faith?

Bob: Oh, well, yeah. Every time I come to the evidence, again, I, I'm just, it just confirms to me the certainty of his resurrection. And, you know, in the New Testament, it was the resurrection of Jesus. That that allowed, uh, Christianity and the Christian teachings about Jesus and who he is and what he said and what he's done that proved that he really is God in the flesh.

This evidence really does change everything, how we look at life. It changes our total worldview, uh, and it supports, uh, even those who say they have enough faith. Well realize that Thomas doubting Thomas. He might have said that he had enough faith and didn't need any other other evidence, but Jesus came to him [00:10:00] anyway.

And provided additional evidence. I, I think that that, uh, God has been holding this evidence in, you know, for the right time to be revealing, and I think the right time is now probably shortly before his second coming. I don't know when that ends is of course, but I expect God to be really revealing various evidences.

Uh, Noah's Noah's ark the, the arc of the covenant and scientific evidence for the resurrection, uh, in order so that people will not be sitting on the fence. They'll, they'll be forced to get down on one side or the other. Either you believe or you don't. So that judgment then will be easy.

Guy: How, uh, how great to put that and you're so right.

And I can definitely see where the shroud, I mean certainly from my faith and those of us that are shroud researchers and, but you know, all Christians, uh, whether, you know, would, regardless of what denomination, all Christians, I think the shroud will have and does have an, an impact on your [00:11:00] faith.

Bob: Oh, absolutely.

Yeah. When you look at it, you can, you can read the, the testimonies that we have in the Bible. And I think those really are convincing, but it's, it's even more shocking when you first show a person the front and back image that was made at the instant of Jesus resurrection on this piece of cloth. I.

Guy: Yeah, absolutely.

Well, with that, we're gonna close it off. Uh, this is, uh, a, uh, an introduction to hopefully all of the things that you can find out and learn about and discuss and, and, uh, be an experience and find out really what the, uh, and how valuable the, the shroud of Turin is. So that'll be at the shroud of the International Shroud Conference, and that you can find more information out at Shroud 2025.

conference.com. Shroud 2025 conference.com. Bob, thank you so much for this and otherwise, to the audience, we hope to [00:12:00] see you all there.

Bob: Very good. Thank you.

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