Don’t forget to enter this week’s giveaway by Friday at 1 pm for a chance to win Edward Steers’s Hoax: Hitler’s Diaries, Lincoln’s Assassins, and Other Famous Frauds!
Every year around Easter time, the same debate surfaces: is the Shroud of Turin Jesus Christ’s authentic burial cloth, or is it a medieval fabrication steeped in legend?
March 2013 brings a new player to the dispute: Shroud 2.0. An iPhone and iPad app that allows you to get up close to the religious object, exploring it in high-definition and with a guided tour—for only $3.99! It’s about time the masses can determine the legitimacy of the Shroud inexpensively and conveniently from their smart phones.
In all seriousness, one has to wonder if the app is a manifestation of Edward Steers’s main argument in his latest book, Hoax. He says that greed and the desire to believe drive a successful hoax. You can check out some screenshots from the app below, to see if it is worth your four dollars. But before you buy, you may want to read Steers’s book, which details scientific evidence supporting the hypothesis that the Shroud is a fourteenth-century artistic creation. The controversy may never be resolved, though, as Steers says: “Tell me what you want to believe and I will tell you what you will believe.”
The University Press of Kentucky 