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

Is the Sudarium There?

There is, in the top layer of the cloth, an irregular raised spot, suggesting that there is something there between the lop layer and the bottom layer of the shroud. Is it the sudarium, the other cloth mentioned in John’s gospel wherein we read that Simon Peter “saw the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself”? (NRSV John 20:6-7)

Biblical scholar Raymond E. Brown, a Roman Catholic Priest and professor emeritus at the Union Theological Seminary, a Protestant seminary in New York where he taught for 23 years, suggested that . . .

John is very careful about the state of the linen cloths (bands?) used to wrap the corpse, and the separate piece for the head. Their position may have outlined the original position of Jesus’ body which passed through them, leaving them where they were. (31)

It is, for the modern reader, perhaps a strange idea more apropos for Hollywood special effects. But what else do we expect if we are the sort of Christian who believes in a bodily, physical resurrection (many Christians do and many do not)? Did Jesus instead get up and remove his burial cloths. If his jaw had been bound closed with a chin band to keep the mouth closed, as has been common in burials throughout history, would he have untied it? Or did he pass through it? The question is only important because the raised shape in the drawing looking very much like it could be a knotted chin band, in just the right place for such an item. This is certainly consistent with Anglican scholar John A. T. Robinson’s view that the other cloth, the second cloth, was a chin band.