Long, interesting read; I only made it about 1/3 of the way before bedtime for this bonzo. Finish it later.
The first person to call the Shroud a medieval fake was... a medieval bishop! Bishop Pierre d'Arcis of Troyes wrote to Pope Clement VII at Avignon, stating that an artist had confessed to painting the Shroud... there is no reason why Christ's burial shroud should bear an image at all. There is no such claim in the gospels or in Acts. None of the epistles say, Oh by the way there's this magical picture of the Lord... Some fundamentalists reject the Shroud for that very reason: It's not in the Book! So this brings up the curious question: Why would anyone claim that the image indicates the cloth to be the burial shroud of Christ?It's surprising how much time and energy has been invested in something that has no relevance to any recognized theology, or any logical possibility of being what it is sometimes purported to be.