Ian Wilson (born 1941) is a prolific author of

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

books. He has investigated such topics as the

Shroud of Turin The Shroud of Turin ( it, Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud ( it, Sacra Sindone, links=no or ), is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man. Some describe the image as depicting Jesus of Nazareth and bel ...

and life after death.

Life

He was born in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history ...

, south London, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Neither of his parents was religious. His school was nominally

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

, but during scripture classes he was always, as he put it, "the number one sceptic". He graduated in Modern History from

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the ...

in 1963.McCowen, Sharyn.
"Sceptic gives 'resounding yes' to truth of Shroud"
. ''The Catholic Weekly'', 23 May 2010. He first came across the Shroud during the 1950s, when he was in his mid-teens, in an illustrated article by World War II hero Group Captain

Leonard Cheshire Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, (7 September 1917 – 31 July 1992) was a highly decorated Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and group captain during the Second World War, and a philanthropist. Among the honours Cheshire received as ...

. It was the famous image on the negative of the Shroud that dealt the first blow to his formerly complacent

agnosticism Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficien ...

. In 1972 he converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Wilson is most well known for his research on

. In a piece for the journal

Free Inquiry ''Free Inquiry'' is a bimonthly journal of secular humanist opinion and commentary published by the Council for Secular Humanism, a program of the Center for Inquiry. Philosopher Paul Kurtz was the editor-in-chief from its inception in 1980 until ...

, historian Charles Freeman heavily criticized Wilson's writings on the subject, commenting "He is not taken seriously by any respected historian... Wilson has failed to provide any significant evidence from this mass of material to back his narrative. It seems to fail at every point. He provides no evidence that the Shroud existed in Jerusalem, no evidence that a burial shroud arrived in Edessa." He participated in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's three part TV series '' Jesus: The Evidence'' (1984) and wrote the accompanying book of the same name. The series proved to be highly controversial and sparked a national furore, marking a significant moment in the changing fortunes of

religious broadcasting Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some coun ...

in the UK. He lived in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

, England, for twenty-six years and now resides in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, with his wife, Judith. They have two sons, Adrian and Noel.

Publications

*''The Turin Shroud: The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?'', 1979 *''Mind Out of Time?: Reincarnation Claims Investigated'', 1981 *''All in the Mind: Reincarnation, Hypnotic Regression, Stigmata, Multiple Personality, and Other Little-understood Powers of the Mind'', 1982 *''Reincarnation?: The Claims Investigated'', 1982 *''Jesus: The Evidence'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984 *''The Exodus Enigma'', 1985 *''The Evidence of the Shroud'', 1986 *''Undiscovered: The Fascinating World of Undiscovered Places, Graves, Wrecks and Treasure'', 1987 *''The After Death Experience: The Physics of the Non-Physical'', 1987 *''The Bleeding Mind: An Investigation Into the Mysterious Phenomenon of Stigmata'', 1988 *''Stigmata: An Investigation into the Mysterious Appearance of Christ's Wounds in Hundreds of People from Medieval Italy to Modern America'', 1989 *''Superself: The Hidden Powers Within Us'', 1989 *''Holy Faces, Secret Places: An Amazing Quest for the Face of Jesus'', 1991 *''The Columbus Myth: Did Men of Bristol Reach America Before Columbus?'', 1992 *''Shakespeare: The Evidence : Unlocking the Mysteries of the Man and His Work'', 1994 *''In Search of Ghosts'', 1995 *''Jesus: The Evidence'', 2nd ed., London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1996. ; San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997. *''The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence That the World's Most Sacred Relic Is Real'', 1998 *''Life After Death: The Evidence'', 1998 *''The Bible As History'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999 *''The Turin Shroud: Unshrouding the Mystery'', 2000 *''Before the Flood: The Biblical Flood as a Real Event and How It Changed the Course of Civilization'', 2002 *''John Cabot and the Matthew'', 2003 *''Nostradamus the Man Behind the Prophecies'', 2003 *''Lost World of the Kimberley: Extraordinary New Glimpses of Australia's Ice Age Ancestors'', 2006 *''Murder at Golgotha: A Scientific Investigation into the Last Days of Jesus's Life, His Death, and His Resurrection'', 2007 *''The Shroud: The 2000-Year-Old Mystery Solved'', 2010 (also known as ''The Shroud: Fresh Light on the 2000-Year-Old Mystery'', 2010 ) *''The Book of Geoffroi De Charny with the Livre Charny edited and translated by Nigel Bryant'', 2021 Book reviews
"Before the Flood"
''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

''.
"Mind Out of Time?"
''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

''.
"Nostradamus: The Man Behind the Prophecies"
''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

''.
"Reincarnation Cases"
''

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by a Quaker convert ...

''.
"The After Death Experience"
''

''.
"The Blood and the Shroud"
''

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Ian 1941 births Living people Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford British writers Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism People from Clapham Researchers of the Shroud of Turin Roman Catholic writers