In “Two Questions About Crucifixion: Does the Victim Die of Asphyxiation? Would Nails in the Hands Hold the Weight of the Body?” Frederick T. Zugibe counters two popular theories. Jesus died of shock, not asphyxiation, says Zugibe. And palms (not wrists, as most people today assume), if nailed to the cross in a specific place, could support several hundred pounds of human weight. Chief medical examiner for Rockland County, New York, Zugibe bases his counter theories on extensive studies—of live volunteers in his own laboratory, of data from World War I and World War II, and of evidence from […]