His theory, sorry hypothesis, sorry wild speculation, is that
the Shroud does indeed date from the time of Christ and the
image on it is indeed that of Jesus. But it wasn't (necessarily)
created in a burst of divine resurrection-energy as pious
believers have long insisted. Rather, the first disciples saw it
and concluded that the image must have been miraculously
produced and that therefore Jesus must have risen from the dead.
The disciples didn't see the Risen Christ; they saw a soiled
cloth. Thomas didn't put his hand in Jesus' pierced but
resurrected flesh; he just took a closer look at the Shroud.
Blessed are they who have not seen the Shroud, and yet believe.
De Wesselow happily does away with the "need" for a physical
resurrection. As Peter Stanford establishes in the course of his
Telegraph interview, the disciples would have been aware of "the
decomposing body of Jesus... well-and-truly dead" in the tomb,
but were more impressed with the apparently miraculous image on
the burial Shroud. According to