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

In this place He rises again

What, possibly, could Nicholas have meant when he wrote, “In this place He rises again”? Is this mere metaphor? Perhaps. But recall that Robert of Clari said that at St. Mary’s, “And on every Friday that shroud did raise itself upright so that the form of Our Lord could clearly be seen.”

John Jackson, who in 1978 found the fold marks showing that the shroud had been folded as a tetradiplon, proposed that the shroud might have been pulled up out of a box from the centermost fold like an upside down Roman shade. Jesus would appears to be rising from his tomb. It is by no means a farfetched idea. Byzantine emperors had thrones that were raised by secret mechanical devices intended to awe visitors. We can imagine similar devices for relics.