descent of Christ to the dead (Harrowing of Hell)
E359795
The descent of Christ to the dead, or Harrowing of Hell, is a traditional Christian belief that after his crucifixion Jesus descended to the realm of the dead to proclaim victory over death and liberate the righteous who had died before his resurrection.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| descent of Christ to the dead | 1 |
| descent of Christ to the dead (Harrowing of Hell) canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3457372 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: descent of Christ to the dead (Harrowing of Hell) Context triple: [Joyous Saturday, associatedEvent, descent of Christ to the dead (Harrowing of Hell)]
-
A.
Paschal mystery
The Paschal mystery refers to the saving events of Jesus Christ’s passion, death, resurrection, and ascension, through which Christians believe humanity is redeemed and brought into new life.
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B.
resurrection of Jesus Christ
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundational Christian belief that Jesus rose bodily from the dead, affirming his divinity and the promise of eternal life for believers.
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C.
Descent of the Holy Spirit
The Descent of the Holy Spirit is the Pentecost event in Christian belief when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, empowering them to preach and marking the birth of the Church.
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D.
Incarnation of Christ
The Incarnation of Christ is the Christian belief that the eternal Son of God assumed human nature in the person of Jesus Christ, who is both fully divine and fully human.
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E.
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ is a classic 17th-century Reformed theological treatise by John Owen that rigorously defends the doctrine of definite (or limited) atonement.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: descent of Christ to the dead (Harrowing of Hell) Target entity description: The descent of Christ to the dead, or Harrowing of Hell, is a traditional Christian belief that after his crucifixion Jesus descended to the realm of the dead to proclaim victory over death and liberate the righteous who had died before his resurrection.
-
A.
Paschal mystery
The Paschal mystery refers to the saving events of Jesus Christ’s passion, death, resurrection, and ascension, through which Christians believe humanity is redeemed and brought into new life.
-
B.
resurrection of Jesus Christ
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundational Christian belief that Jesus rose bodily from the dead, affirming his divinity and the promise of eternal life for believers.
-
C.
Descent of the Holy Spirit
The Descent of the Holy Spirit is the Pentecost event in Christian belief when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, empowering them to preach and marking the birth of the Church.
-
D.
Incarnation of Christ
The Incarnation of Christ is the Christian belief that the eternal Son of God assumed human nature in the person of Jesus Christ, who is both fully divine and fully human.
-
E.
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ is a classic 17th-century Reformed theological treatise by John Owen that rigorously defends the doctrine of definite (or limited) atonement.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Christian doctrine
ⓘ
Christological doctrine ⓘ theological concept ⓘ |
| affirmedByTradition |
Anglican Communion
ⓘ
Eastern Orthodox Christianity ⓘ
surface form:
Eastern Orthodox Church
Lutheranism ⓘ
surface form:
Lutheran Churches
Oriental Orthodoxy ⓘ
surface form:
Oriental Orthodox Churches
Roman Catholicism ⓘ
surface form:
Roman Catholic Church
many Reformed Churches ⓘ |
| associatedWithDoctrine |
Christ’s universal lordship
ⓘ
Christ’s victory over death ⓘ redemption of the righteous who died before Christ ⓘ |
| associatedWithFeast | Paschal (Easter) celebrations ⓘ |
| centralFigure | Jesus Christ ⓘ |
| concernsRealm |
Hades
ⓘ
Hell ⓘ
surface form:
Hell (in traditional imagery)
Sheol ⓘ realm of the dead ⓘ |
| depictedIn |
Byzantine iconography
ⓘ
Western medieval art ⓘ |
| developedIn |
early Christian theology
ⓘ
patristic theology ⓘ |
| followsEvent | crucifixion of Jesus ⓘ |
| hasAlternativeName | Harrowing of Hell ⓘ |
| hasBiblicalBasisIn |
1 Peter 3:18–20
ⓘ
1 Peter 4:6 ⓘ Ephesians 4:8–10 ⓘ Psalm 16:10 ⓘ
surface form:
Psalm 16:10 (as interpreted in Acts 2:27)
Romans 10:6–7 ⓘ |
| iconographicTheme |
Christ breaking the gates of Hades
ⓘ
Christ leading the righteous from the underworld ⓘ Christ raising Adam and Eve ⓘ |
| involvesAction |
descent of Jesus to the realm of the dead
ⓘ
liberation of the righteous dead ⓘ proclamation of victory over death ⓘ |
| liturgicalCommemoration | Holy Saturday ⓘ |
| mentionedAs | “He descended into hell” ⓘ |
| mentionedIn | Apostles’ Creed ⓘ |
| precedesEvent | resurrection of Jesus ⓘ |
| refersTo |
descent of Christ to the dead (Harrowing of Hell)
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
descent of Christ to the dead
|
| relatedConcept |
Christ’s three-day rest in the tomb
ⓘ
intermediate state of the dead ⓘ |
| subjectOf |
apocryphal gospels and writings
ⓘ
homilies of early Church Fathers ⓘ medieval mystery plays ⓘ theological debates on the meaning of “hell” in the Creed ⓘ |
| theologicalTheme |
Christ’s solidarity with the dead
ⓘ
extension of salvation to the dead ⓘ transition from Old Covenant to New Covenant ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: descent of Christ to the dead (Harrowing of Hell) Description of subject: The descent of Christ to the dead, or Harrowing of Hell, is a traditional Christian belief that after his crucifixion Jesus descended to the realm of the dead to proclaim victory over death and liberate the righteous who had died before his resurrection.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
descent of Christ to the dead (Harrowing of Hell)
→
refersTo
→
descent of Christ to the dead (Harrowing of Hell)
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
subject surface form:
Harrowing of Hell
this entity surface form:
descent of Christ to the dead