THE SHROUD RISES: AS THE CARBON DATE IS BURIED

by William West

'In September 2024, headlines swept the a new test had dated the Shroud of Turin – the ‘Shroud of Jesus Christ’ – to the first century. At the same time, research confirmed the much-publicized carbon dating of the Shroud to the Middle Ages was fatally flawed. Other research added to the mountain of evidence for the Shroud’s authenticity. There is now only one there is no room for doubt that the Shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus.'
Thus begins William West's second book on the Shroud, which follows his first, widely acclaimed book, Riddles of the Questions Science Can't Answer. This time around, West digs deeper into the carbon dating and discovers how it managed to get the date so wrong.

William West has been a journalist and editor for 50 years. He spent almost two decades working on The Australian newspaper in many roles, including higher education editor and legal writer. He has been an editor of several magazines, including Perspective magazine and Education Review. His first book on the Shroud, Riddles of the Questions Science Can’t Answer, was an introduction to the scientific and historical research that have made the Shroud the most researched artifact in history. This book covers new discoveries that have changed the world’s perspective on the Shroud of Jesus forever.

161 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 4, 2024

Reviews

[Damian Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of The Shroud Rises, As the Carbon Date is Buried by William West 📖

What happens when the most thoroughly dismissed artifact in Christian history refuses to stay buried? For decades, the Shroud of Turin—believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus—was sidelined by the infamous 1988 carbon dating tests, which confidently placed its origin in the medieval era. Case closed, or so it seemed.

But in The Shroud Rises, As the Carbon Date is Buried, William West reopens the investigation, presenting the most recent scientific findings from 2024 that challenge the old verdict and suggest that the shroud may, in fact, belong exactly where tradition has placed it: in the first century.

It raises a fascinating question: What if the most scrutinized relic of all time has been quietly telling the truth all along?

🧠 Summary of Core Ideas

West structures the book like a meticulous forensic report, peeling back the layers of both history and science. He recounts how the 1988 carbon dating results, which dated the shroud to around 1260–1390 AD, dominated the conversation for years. But recent developments—using advanced X-ray fluorescence, blood analysis, and textile studies—have raised serious doubts about those tests.

The key updates from the 2024 research include:

• Evidence that the original carbon dating samples were likely taken from a repaired section of the cloth, contaminating the results.
• New dating methods placing the fabric's origin much closer to the first century, aligning with the time of Jesus.
• Forensic analysis showing that the blood patterns, wound locations, and scourge marks on the shroud match what we would expect from someone who experienced Roman crucifixion, precisely as described in the Gospels.

West doesn’t present this as conclusive proof but as a growing body of evidence that demands serious reconsideration.

🤔 Philosophical Reflections

What makes this book compelling is not just the technical data but the deeper philosophical question it raises:

How much evidence is enough to change our understanding of history?
For centuries, faith and scepticism have circled the shroud, with believers drawn to its haunting image and sceptics dismissing it as medieval art. But what happens when modern science begins to lean toward the side of faith—not through dreaming, but through cold, hard analysis?

West invites us to consider whether we’ve been too quick to dismiss the possibility of a miracle simply because it makes us uncomfortable.

✝️ Religious Perspectives

For Christian readers, the shroud is more than just fabric; it's a possible material link to the suffering and resurrection of Christ. If authentic, it's not merely a relic—it's a silent witness to the most pivotal event in human history.

And when you place this new evidence alongside works like The Case for Christ, which detail the medical realities of crucifixion, the resonance becomes even deeper. The wounds on the shroud match the brutal physical trauma described by Strobel's medical experts. Together, they form a kind of historical echo, reinforcing the reality of Christ's death—and the possibility of His resurrection.

🔗 Connections and Implications

The Shroud Rises serves as a powerful companion to investigative works like The Case for Christ. Where Strobel builds the case through historical documents, expert testimony, and medical analysis, West adds an artifact into the courtroom: a piece of linen that might just carry the physical evidence of everything Strobel’s experts describe.

For those already intrigued by apologetics or historical Jesus studies, this book is essential reading. It doesn't claim to have the final word, but it pushes us to reconsider the shroud not as a closed case, but as an ongoing mystery—one that might, finally, be yielding its secrets.

🩻 Bonus Connection:

If you’re interested in how the latest scientific evidence from the Shroud of Turin ties into the historical and medical case for Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection, check out our review of The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. Together, these works provide a powerful, multi-layered defence of the events at the heart of Christianity.

[Novall · Rating 1 out of 5]

The fictional 1st century Shroud rises while the reader descends into the Hell of platitudes from scientific illiteracy and historical contrivances.

Rising from the dead here are the vomiting zombies of arrogance and ghosts of deficiency from the graveyard of prefabricated ignorance in long-buried hubris obtuseness.

Nothing new.
Science fiction and fabricated history.

The irrational evidence cited here is non-empirical conjecture and anecdotal historical fiction; the improvised rhetoric changes nothing.

Augmented assumptions and predicated assertions in this book are the rhetoric of redundancy, the complacency of self-compliance.

The repeatedly falsified fabrication on the 1st century origins of the 14th century Shroud is dead.

Misreading the Old Testament and misquoting the New Testament are each problematic, but also betray an agenda of unbridled scheming.

The book is simply the symbiotic synergy of sordid Stooge synoptics.

Repurposing medieval art as a product of 1st century supernatural intervention is not science. Such promotion is the empty rhetoric of conjecture.

The Christian tradition of 700 years will never be converted to the pseudo-scientific Rorschach of interrogative religious zealot zombies.

Having Shroud authenticity defenders degrade the observations of present art historians and contemporary scientists is the equivalent of having the arsonist critique the firefighter for working too slow.

By comparison, please read the unsurpassed standards on 14th century Shroud verification: empirically-valid works by Nicholas Peter Legh Allen and Walter C. McCrone and the historical-critical dissertation by art historian Gary Vikan.

[Betty A Barfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

New William West book

Great book and exposure of the flawed carbon dating of 1989. Those following the Shroud knew this all along. The British Museum should be the ones touting the Shroud to be the real burial cloth of Jesus Christ since they caused many to doubt except the TRUE follower.

[Ferdinand Acevedo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really a great book

This book really contains evidence for Christ’s existence, for his Miracle of Resurrection,for his greatness. It proves the existence of God. All these is proven beyond any reasonable doubt. Reasonable men have no choice but to believe.