Like Mödder, Zugibe used straps instead
of nails to bind his subjects’ hands. Unlike
Mödder, who let his subjects dangle, Zugibe
also bound their feet. This seems to have
made all the difference. While the bodies
did sag, as Barbet predicted, not one subject
in Zugibe’s experiments found it difficult to
breathe. What’s more, contrary to Barbet’s
notion that Christ lifted his body on the
cross periodically, Zugibe found that it was
literally impossible to pull your torso up while
you are crucified in that position. He asked
his volunteers to push and pull their body
upwards as if their life depended on it, but no
one could. So even if Jesus did find breathing
difficult, he would have been unable to raise
himself in order to breathe easier, as did the
Nazi torture victims at Dachau.