imageA reader writes:

The proposal to test the Maillard reaction hypothesis was requested and promoted by David Rolfe, the man behind the the “List”, (more appropriately the Valencia Dogma) who wrote, “It is, frankly, unthinkable that a process that has only ever been known to brown toast and meat could form the Shroud image. . . .One of the major achievements of the "List" is to put this idea away for good and allow proper considerations to continue unfettered by it. . . .The fondness that everyone, me included, has for Ray’s memory is the only thing that has kept the theory alive for as long as it has” 

Rolfe now doubles down. He writes that, “One of the reasons for the theory’s attractiveness to some researchers is that, if correct, it provides a "natural" explanation for the creation of the image.”

So what? The real reason for the theory’s attractiveness could be/should be/must be that any hypothesis might be right. A Maillard reaction might in fact be right. It might be the answer or at least part of the answer. This kind of transparency from Rolfe makes all shroud science appear suspect and agenda driven. What a pity.

BTW the Mannix proposal should be presented as nothing more than an opening suggestion designed to start some fruitful discussion. As written, this proposal is hardly adequate to even begin testing what Rogers was talking about.