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

Portrait of an Empty Shroud

It might have been more satisfying if the artist had actually drawn the image on the shroud. But that seems to be a secondary objective. In two panels, comic book style, he is portraying first a burial preparation scene and second an empty tomb—indeed graphically, an empty shroud. He portrays the dead Jesus but not the risen Christ and seems to be adhering to biblical narratives. Or is he?

In the first panel Jesus is shown in burial repose being attended to by Joseph of Arimathia and Nichodemus and a third figure. Jesus’ is naked, his arms are crossed at his wrists. There seems to be a mark on his forehead that is not unlike a forehead bloodstain on the Shroud of Turin.

The second panel shows witnesses to an empty tomb, or more precisely to an empty shroud. The shroud is shown folded along its length. On the upper half the artist has clearly attempted to depict the texture of the cloth, and it seems to be stylized herringbone pattern. Here, within the pattern we find one set of the distinctive L-shaped pattern of poker holes. Some critics have suggested that the weave pattern is not that but merely hatching, a technique artists use to show shading or shadows. But the drawing makes no use of hatched or patterned shading. Lines are used to represent hair texture and there is one instance where a brocaded or ornamental neckline to a garment is drawn with a series of circles. The artist simply does not use any technique to show the play of light on faces or bodies or other surfaces. The artist only uses position and angles to depict a sense of three-dimensionality to the scene.

The lower half of the cloth does not depict the texture that we see in the top half. Instead, the artist has drawn a series of outlined crosses, or plus signs or Xs? Is this an attempt to symbolically represent empty space where the Christ had been? Is the X a Chi, the Greek character used to symbolize Xpistos, the Christ? Is it perhaps a way of trying to show that there is something, a ghostlike image perhaps?