# The dead who rose when Christ died.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dead-who-rose-when-christ-died/191559>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 29, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dead-who-rose-when-christ-died/191559 "2003-07-29T00:36:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![BlueMit11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@BlueMit11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueMit11)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dead-who-rose-when-christ-died/191559/21 "2003-07-30T21:50:07Z")

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I don’t have the answer, but I can tell you, **Moriah** , that you’re oversimplifying things.

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**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dead-who-rose-when-christ-died/191559/22 "2003-07-31T00:08:39Z")

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> [@](#):
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> As for “before this generation passes from the Earth”, or whatever, you can also reconcile that by supposing that one or more people alive then still haven’t died. No, I’m not claiming that’s so, but there are numerous legends to that effect.

your mention of generations just reminded me… isn’t there something in the bible that says how many generations there’ll be between the jews getting their land back (1948, i think?) and the second coming?

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**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dead-who-rose-when-christ-died/191559/23 "2003-08-03T11:58:11Z")

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> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Fear Itself \*  
> \*\*So why does Matt. 27:52 specifically say **“The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.”** Seems pretty unambiguous to me; their bodies that were in the tombs were raised to life. Your heavenly body explanation just doesn’t fit. \*\*

The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, a standard for mainline Catholic scholarly consensus dismisses this episode as a midrashic gloss of Matthew.

IOW, it’s like the star of Bethlehem story, it’s was fabricated to reveal a theological truth, not to give a historical fact.

Which is probably why it only appears in Matthew’s gospel.

Fundamentalists would obviously take issue with this stance.

> [@](#):
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> _Originally posted by BlueMit11_\*\*  
> I don’t have the answer, but I can tell you, Moriah, that you’re oversimplifying things.\*\*

## Well, the system crashed when I posted my doctoral thesis on the topic. Send me twenty bucks and I’ll mail it to you. Peace.

Eschatological theology now available in 3x5 glossies.

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