Why an Atheist Thinks the Shroud of Turin is the Real Deal

Angles on the Head of a Pin

It is well known how medieval theologians debated how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. But did they? This is a malformed perspective. The false idea seems to have originated with Isaac D'Israeli (1766-1848), the father of the great British Prime Minister Benjamin D'Israeli. Isaac took great pleasure in lampooning the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas had wondered if an angel, in moving from one place to another, passes through the in- between. The myth of the dancing-on-a-pin question it seems was nothing more than D'Israeli's comical restatement of Aquinas' puzzle. A profound "scientific" question of his day was maligned by a pundit. It is such a tale that makes "dark ages" of the Middle Ages.

**** Aquinas really asked a profound question when we understand the angels metaphorically: Does a divinely caused change of state involve a process (something that takes time and for which there is evolutionary development or change in location)? Would the "angel's" movement take time and affect the in-between? Would the angel's movement leave a turbulent wake such that, if we were to apply modern chaos theory, the weather on the other side of the world would be altered.  Ludicrous thinking? Well, the Resurrection leave a turbulent wake of radiation to initiate a process of image formation? Did God leave lying about little elementary particles, all in the right place, all at the right time, all with the right spin and velocity, to encounter and paint the image.