The Jesus Strand: A Search for DNA

YouTube ^ | 2017 | History Channel / Geneticist George Busby and Biblical scholar pastor Joe Basile

[SunkenCiv]

Now for the first time in history a man of faith and a man of science are teaming up to search for Jesus' DNA. Using the latest advances in DNA technology Oxford University geneticist George Busby and biblical scholar Pastor Joe Basile are investigating the world's most famous holy relics including the Shroud of Turin, The Sudarium of Oviedo and the newly discovered bones of Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist. Their journey takes them to holy sites around the world from Spain and Italy to Israel and the shores of the Black Sea. By extracting and analyzing samples of each of these holy relics they hope to retrieve a sample of DNA that possibly belongs to Jesus or a member of his family. They believe that if they can find a strand of Jesus' DNA it could help identify who among us today are descendants of Jesus and provide us with new insight into the man many consider to be the most important person in history, Jesus. 

The Jesus Strand: A Search for DNA 
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[EnderWiggin1970]

It’s a fascinating concept but almost certainly a waste of time. There’s no basis for imagining the early Christians worshipped relics and toted them around for safekeeping - everything points in the opposite direction. Their faith and their focus was in their Lord and Savior, not chunks of wood or pieces of linen. So the myriad of thousands of “relics” that started floating around centuries later are most certainly 100.000% all fakes by cults that weakened or abandoned faith in a savior and replaced it with an obsession over idols of wood and stone and clothe, etc.

[TexasFreeper2009]

everything they test will come back with different DNA, because it is all fake, every bit of it.

[Tell It Right]

Agreed. If Jesus really had descendants, no one today would be looking for smoke from the Vatican. Everyone would be saying that one of Jesus’ descendants is the top leader of Christians.

[Jamestown1630]

The idea has been around since long before ‘The Da Vinci Code’.

[JimRed]

Handle with care. Finding a “descendent” or relative of Jesus through DNA could play havoc upon believers whose faith is wavering. An opening for one of those referenced in Matthew 24:5...”For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”

[Jamestown1630]

On the other hand, getting a match between the supposed bones of John the Baptist and DNA from the Shroud, would be quite something...

[jjotto]

Several DNA studies on Jewish Davidic descent, and other more traditional family descent studies. Here’s one:

https://davidicdynasty.org/

and

https://momentmag.com/king-davids-genes-2/

[JimRed]

On the other hand, getting a match between the supposed bones of John the Baptist and DNA from the Shroud, would be quite something...

Yes, that goes without saying!

[JimRed]

On the other hand, getting a match between the supposed bones of John the Baptist and DNA from the Shroud, would be quite something...

Yes, that goes without saying!

[21twelve]

The blood found on the shroud is Blood Type AB. Lots of studies have been done on it. Plant DNA has been extracted from pollen found on the shroud, but I didn’t see anything about DNA from the blood stains.

[HombreSecreto]

That would be interesting if any more information could be found on the blood. XX or XY. If XY, focus of course on Y.

[Jamestown1630]

I’m not sure about blood stains per se, but many types of human DNA were found on the shroud:

https://www.livescience.com/52567-shroud-of-turin-dna.html

[Jamestown1630]

Y is weird:

https://theconversation.com/the-weird-male-y-chromosome-has-finally-been-fully-sequenced-can-we-now-understand-how-it-works-and-how-it-evolved-212112

[Jamestown1630]

From what I’ve seen of the video so far, they use the word ‘descendant’ to refer to descendants of Jesus’ family genetic heritage, not direct descendants of Jesus Himself.

[HKMk23]

So... maybe unearth the progeny of the half-siblings...

A longshot, but interesting in concept, anyway.

[Tallguy]

Just taking the Shroud... limiting it to that one artifact... how would researchers account for all the other individuals over 2,000 years who may have dropped a hair, or left some skin oils on the fabric? How do they propose to account for contamination (for lack of a better word)?

[Jamestown1630]

They’ve already found DNA from many different groups - even from India - on the Shroud.

I don’t much about the science, or what would be involved in isolating just one DNA ‘type’ from blood stains that old...