THERE’S A REASON NOBODY TALKS ‘SWOON THEORY’ ANYMORE: HillFaith reminds this morning that there was a time at the turn of the century when critics claimed Jesus survived crucifixion, escaped from the tomb and secretly headed off to live out his life in obscurity in India or Japan or, maybe, Burbank.

Today being Easter Friday, crucifixion day, it’s useful to review the lethal effects of the Romans’ routine execution method — including the scourging  before being nailed to a cross — as a measure of the remote likelihood of anybody surviving so lethal an ordeal. Which leaves us all with the question: How is the empty tomb best explained, by the Gospels or by naturalistic explanations like swooning?