The Gradual Process of Individual Resurrections

A Research Hypothesis in Biblical Theology (II)

Abstract

Continuing the investigation published in the second issue of the current year of La Scuola Cattolica, the present study further develops its biblical and magisterial arguments. First, the research focuses on four events attested in the New Testament: the promise of paradise made by Jesus to the “good thief” (Lk 23:43); Christ’s descent to the realm of the dead (1 Pet 3:18-20); the bodily resurrection of numerous deceased saints attested in Mt 27:52-53; and the enigmatic “first resurrection” of the martyrs in Rev 20:5-6. A correlated analysis of these elements provides solid support for understanding the bodily resurrection of the dead as a gradual and individual process, that will reach its fulfillment with Christ’s glorious return. Moreover, a reconsideration of the dogmatic teaching on the final judgment and Purgatory, on the one hand, and on the intercession of the saints and the departed, on the other, is able to provide a firm grounding for the same thesis.