So, a bit of housekeeping before we begin – I’ve started a new job at the end of last week, and I’m not entirely sure how my new schedule will allow me to continue my regular M-W-F posts around here. I don’t anticiate a problem, but it’s always possible, so please forgive any delays we may experience, and pretty please keep visiting! With that out of the way, this 43rd installment will tackle the very general category of RELIGION, so say your prayers and we’ll holy dive right in.

Jeopardy! category: RELIGION (1-5-2015)

$400 clue: Despite recent evidence of a 13th-century origin, the Vatican has encouraged scientific study of this religious relic

Correct response SHROUD OF TURIN

The gist: Some say the woven linen cloth is a sacred relic from Jesus Christ’s burial, some say it’s a Medieval hoax. Who’s to say which is right? Luckily, scientific analysis is: in 1988, the Vatican permitted three independent analyses of the Shroud to be undertaken, by Oxford University, the University of Arizona, and the Swiss Federal Institution of Technology. All of them concurred, based on carbon-14 dating analysis, that the material from which its made originated sometime in the middle of the 14th century, nearly a millennium and a half too late to have been wrapped around Jesus at the time of his death. OK, so, case closed, right?

Not when it comes to things like these. Attestations of authenticity and accusation of forgery have flown back and forth since the Middle Ages. In the late 14th century, the bishop of Troyes declared declared it false, while Pope Clement VII (known for revising the Vulgate Bible and commissioning Michelangelo to paint the Last Judgment scene in the Sistine Chapel) sanctioned it as an object of veneration, without ever stating outright that it was the real deal. Over the centuries it passed between several European noble families. Eventually it found its way to the House of Savoy, where it was damaged in a fire in the 16th century, which modern supporters claim accounts for the discrepancy found in the carbon dating tests (since combustible and combusted material, being made of carbon, is what’s usually analyzed during those tests). Sophisticated checks against such potential biases are entirely routine when conducting analyses, however, and you would have to posit that all three venerable institutions made the same careless error to arrive at the same date. After the fire it was brought to Turin, which had become the Savoy capital in the late 16th century. Famed skeptic Joe Nickell undertook an extensive investigation into the Shroud, published in 1998, and concluded that “historical, iconographic, pathological, physical, and chemical evidence points to its inauthenticity.”

Regardless of what you believe, the Vatican has been remarkably mature about the artifact. They continue to both allow and encourage scholarly research on the Shroud, from both theological and scientific experts, while also encouraging faithful Catholics to venerate it as an object of faith. After all, who knows if all those crucifixes people worship all the time look anything like Jesus actually did – it’s the thought that counts, right?

The clue: This is just me talking, but the Shroud of Turin seems like the best known of all the Catholic relics, so even if you know none of its specifics it’s a good guess for a $400 clue. That the phrase says “despite… its 13th century origin” suggests that some people think that date is wrong, which could also clue you in on it… but I suspect that’s the case for most relics.

In Jeopardy!: The Shroud shows up in 17 regular and one FJ! clue in the J!Archive. Most of them talk about a “famous shroud” or “relic” and look for the contestant to name the associated city, in several clues just saying the city is “shrouded” in something or other, but sometimes it goes the other way. Naturally, the “controversy” over its age and authenticity figures into several clues as well. Generally speaking, if it’s about a relic and it’s got some Italian flavour, it’s the Shroud.