Cover Photo courtesy of Ignatius Press
Recently, I was given the opportunity to review a copy of Witnesses to Mystery, a lavish coffee table style book written by Grzegorz Gorny with photographs by Janusz Rosikon. To say I was enthralled from the first moment I opened it would be an understatement. In one volume, these two have managed to capture the horror and the beauty, the mystery and the science of Christ’s Passion and Death.
Gorny and Rosikon embarked on a two year journey to research the answer to an age old question: Do we really possess remnants, relics of Christ’s life on earth? What they found, more through scientific research than spiritual inquiries, is that, yes, we do. Visiting places such as Turin, Italy and Oviedo, Spain, even Czestochowa, Poland, the pair spoke with experts in numerous fields regarding the authenticity of many of the most famous relics, revered by Catholics around the world. Each item is expertly documented, tracing it from its discovery to today, posing questions scientific in nature without losing sight of the fact that this book is meant for the layman. In fact, since it is a coffee table book, I pulled it out during a recent get together. It attracted as much attention from the people who “into” this sort of thing (like me and my husband) and those who are not. Even my sons (8 and 7) were keen to flip through the pages of beautiful photographs or religious sites. This book appeals to everyone without becoming either tedious or simplistic.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book is their finding that the outcomes of the many investigations have almost exclusively been a consensus that these relics, these 2000 year old items, are in fact, at the very least not forgeries. What’s more, many have come to the conclusion that they cannot be forged. For instance, when they discussed the Shroud of Turin with Prof. Bruno Fabbiani, a professor at the Polytechnic University of Turin and expert on the Shroud, he told them that, although many objects at this level are entirely explainable by science, he has found that two objects he has studied are not. Those are the Shroud of Turin and the Tilma of Juan Diego. ”These are two depictions about which one can say with certainty that they were not produced by human hand,” he said. Clearly, he is a man of science who is not afraid to admit that his profession does not contradict his religion. Reason and faith are shown again and again to go hand in hand throughout the book.
While I haven’t read the entire book (I won’t lie; it’s a coffee table book, meant to be flipped through, leisurely), I have seen enough to know that I will be doing so very soon. The photographs are stunning, and the information it provides is laid out in an orderly manner that helps to engage the reader and keep him reading (like when you know you should be getting to bed, because it’s after midnight, but you just got to the “good part” about the Scourging Post). Witnesses to Mystery helps to illuminate how, as the authors point out, “Contemporary science…must admit to ignorance and open itself up to the mysteries of faith.”
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Available to purchase:
Witnesses to Mystery
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Author: Grzegorz Gorney
Photographer: Janusz Rosikon
Publisher: Ignatius Press
335 pages, full color glossy pages