Neither Zombie nor Vampire: The Salvific Reality of the Resurrected Christ

Fr. Ezra Sullivan, OP

Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)

With shocking frankness, St. Paul says that if Christ did not rise from the dead, then our faith is in vain, our hope is in vain, and the teaching of the Church is in vain (1 Cor 15:14). In this presentation, Fr. Ezra will describe the salvific meaning and historical reality of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, in light of the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas the Church Fathers. To explain the authenticity of Catholic beliefs, he will contrast them with fictional accounts of creatures that are neither alive nor dead, or that experience a kind of living-death. We will see how, through his divine Sonship and eternal union with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Christ is neither a vampire nor a zombie, but a God-man who lives forever in the flesh.

Fr. Ezra Sullivan is Dominican friar from the Province of St. Joseph in the United States. The author of Habits and Holiness: Ethics, Theology, and Biopsychology, as well as articles on artificial intelligence and Catholic history, at the Angelicum he teaches moral theology, bioethics and psychology.