Was the man of the shroud dead or was he in a state of coma?
This question seems at first like impertinence. However, the voices of those increase, who state that observations on the cloth speak for the assumption that the man must still have lived under the shroud. The late Prof. Bonte, who has been at that time the head of the department for forensic science at the university of Dusseldorf and president of the world federation of forensic science (obituary), wrote in his expert opinion: " ... in my view everything speaks for the fact that the blood circulation activity had not ceased yet [the man must still have lived.]... I clearly negate the question, whether findings on the shroud indicate that rigor mortis had started. " *)
Rodney Hoare at that time president of the British shroud society visited a forensic-medical institute to find out the cause of death. He had 2 enlargements of the shroud under his arm. To his astonishment he got - after a long discussion among the experts - likewise the answer that all indications speak for the fact that the man must still have been alive under the cloth. **)
If a dead body is assumed, there is no natural explanation of the formation of the image. But there is one, if a living person with a warm body is assumed.
To explain this, the following experiment has been made
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For a short time a piece of cloth has been laid over a rubber-glove filled with warm water
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Then this cloth has been photographed with a thermo-sensitive camera (the brighter the higher the temperature)
(c) Helmut Felzmann
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A chemical process is temperature sensitive. There is formed the more chemical substance the higher the temperature on this spot (hands on the Shroud of Turin - negative)
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The shroud of Turin is for some a kind of proof for the supernatural resurrection of Jesus of Christ and for others a kind of proof that Jesus of Nazareth has survived the crucifixion naturally. This seems to be the real explosiveness of this remarkable historical object.
It seems as if the Turin Shroud has the potential to turn the whole traditional Christian religion upside down.
*) S. Gerhard Kuhnke, Rom und das Grabtuch - Skandal in Turin, Tenea in 2004, p. 75 following
**) S. Rodney Hoare, The Shroud is authentic, in 1998, p. 66 following
