The latest DNA evidence has led to speculation online, both within the United States and around the world, raising questions like “Do two billion Christians worship an Indian?” and “Did Jesus Christ originate from India?” on social media platforms, including Instagram.
The Shroud of Turin is a 14-foot linen cloth believed by some Christians to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, which has always been a source of fascination for both Christians and non-Christians ever since it was first mentioned in a historical record dated 1354, in France. Currently housed in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, the shroud still displays a faint image of a man on a cross and is about 4.4 meters long by 1.1 metres wide.
Now, an analysis of the shroud is available on bioRxiv, though not yet peer-reviewed. Researchers led by Gianni Barcaccia at the University of Padova have reanalyzed 1978 samples from the Shroud of Turin. Based on the evidence presented, it appears that approximately 38.7 to 40% of the complete human DNA profile from the Shroud can be associated with Indian lineage. The DNA markers may also suggest that the linen used to make the shroud was produced in India, and later brought to the Mediterranean by way of trade routes from Rome, not that Jesus had any Indian ancestry at all.
Aside from supporting centuries of human activities, the research also identified common plant, animal, and microorganism DNA found all over Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world. Furthermore, data from the 1980s indicates that the carbon dating suggests that it is of mid- to late-Medieval European origin (1260-1390 CE), and several scientists, including Anders Götherström (University of Stockholm), still argue that it is an artifact dating back approximately to the 13th / 14th centuries.
Widespread viral Instagram posts by Firstpost, The Juggernaut, and similar online platforms have fueled popularity for these findings, which have collectively generated millions of views and thousands of angry comments regarding issues of faith, history, and nationalism. Also, American X and Reddit users have added additional commentary, with many claiming that these findings were a challenge to traditional biblical interpretation, while others have said that they are solely fringe theorists.
The scientific community has cautioned that the DNA does not represent Jesus’s heritage or ethnicity, and that the historical Jesus was a 1st-century Jew living in Judea in the Middle East. As this ongoing debate continues, the shroud is still a powerful representation of the questions surrounding contemporary notions of origin, identity, and faith.