Controversy has raged for centuries over the question of the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. The dispute has naively centered around two questions: Was it, in fact, the shroud in which Jesus Christ was buried? Or was it merely a brilliantly executed forgery? The controversy over these mistakenly formulated issues goes back to the late fourteenth century, when the bishop of Troyes attempted unsuccessfully to have exhibitions of the Shroud suppressed on the grounds that it was but "a certain cloth, cunningly painted." But it was not until late in this century that scientific tests could be applied to the reputed relic, in the hope of ascertaining whether it was genuine or not.
