This manuscript is about how to start from relying on science to be more certain about Christianity. This is because science is so pervasive in our everyday life that we expect that it works almost every time. However, when it comes to Christianity, we need to have faith because most of the time God does not appear to respond to us. Therefore, we feel uncertain about beliefs in Christianity. Instead of being uncertain, this manuscript tries to find a way so (...) that we are more certain about our beliefs in Christianity. We borrow our method to be certain from science. Science faces a similar situation as in believing in Christianity because its knowledge is fallible. Scientists themselves cannot be certain that the scientific knowledge is true all the time. So, they rely on a method called hypothesis testing to make their decisions to believe or not in scientific knowledge. We borrow this method to believe in Christianity. Therefore, we need evidence to make our decision of belief. We mention some evidence from past miracles to help us to make decisions. These include Eucharistic miracles, Marian apparitions, incorruptible corpses, etc. After we decide to believe in Christianity, we work out a theory of Christianity based on the salvation plan of God. We try to substantiate the principles in the theory by referencing testimonies from the Bible and from evidence of miracles that happened. We show that these principles are related to models and experiments that we formulate based on our beliefs in Christianity. Having obtained an understanding of Christianity like a (historical) science, we formulate our practice as a Christian. (shrink)

The Shroud of Turin is one of the most studied and controversial artifacts. To better understand the reasons for this impossible consensus, we focus on a specific point in the ongoing historical debate: the alleged relationship between the Shroud of Turin and the Pray Codex, the first illuminated manuscript in Hungarian named after the eighteenth-century Jesuit György Pray (1723–1801). Scholars have often compared the characteristics of a miniature in the Pray Codex, commonly dated circa 1192–1195, with the features of the (...) Turin Shroud. The comparison of the Pray Codex with the Shroud of Turin makes the position that the Turin Shroud has absolutely no direct or indirect link with the Pray Codex untenable. It can be said with confidence that the miniaturist of the Pray Codex probably had a direct or indirect link with the Shroud of Turin. (shrink)

In a topic as controversial as the Turin Shroud, it is always surprising to note that there remains a large area of consensus among scholars who hold opposite opinions on the origin of this piece of fabric. According to the consensus view, neither science nor history can prove that the Turin Shroud shows signs of the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. However, the reasons provided for this important claim are not convincing, especially in light of recent developments in historiography and (...) analytic philosophy. (shrink)

En 2015, plus d'un million de personnes s'est pressé pour se recueillir, pour prier ou pour simplement passer devant un ancien drap de lin : le linceul (ou suaire) de Turin. La raison de son pouvoir d'attraction est simple : il est réputé avoir enveloppé le cadavre de Jésus de Nazareth après sa crucifixion à Jérusalem. Et pourtant, à première vue, peu de choses se décèlent sur ce grand rectangle de plusieurs mètres de long : simplement l'image, de face et (...) de dos, d'un homme grièvement blessé. La réputation du linceul de Turin est ancienne : elle avait au moins déjà cours dans la seconde moitié du XIVème siècle, à Lirey, en Champagne. Depuis la fin du XIXème siècle et la première photographie du linceul, la controverse est devenue extrêmement forte. Le spectre des spécialistes qui se penchent, hier comme aujourd'hui, sur cet objet est très large : des théologiens aux physiciens nucléaires, des historiens de l'antiquité aux chimistes en passant par les médecins légistes. Ce livre présente avec rigueur un état consolidé et à jour de nos connaissances sur le linceul de Turin. Il évalue ensuite méthodiquement les différentes hypothèses de formation de l'image. (shrink)