Thanks for the link — great article. It’s consistent with a book I’m reading, “The Historical Reliability of the Gospels” by Craig Blomberg — highly recommend it.
My personal refutation of the refuters is that the only story the Priests and the Roman guards could come up with to explain the empty tomb was that the guards had fallen asleep. No way anyone could have moved the stone and run off with a body — much less taking the time to carefully fold and lay out the burial garments — without waking up the guards.
(2) Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire (c. 110 BC)
If the Roman soldier is found guilty (of falling asleep on duty), he is punished by fustuarium. This is carried out as follows. The tribune takes a cudgel and lightly touches the condemned man with it, whereupon all the soldiers fall upon him with clubs and stones, and usually kill him...
If large groups desert their posts under extreme pressure, the officers reject the idea of beating to death or executing all who are guilty, but the solution they adopt is as effective as it is terrifying. The tribune calls the legion on parade... he chooses by lot... about a tenth of those who have shown themselves guilty of cowardice. Those on whom the lot has fallen are clubbed to death.
************************
The killing of the tenth of the soldiers was the original meaning of “decimate”. Modern usage of decimate has changed to mean completely destroyed.