One question’s been shambling all over the internet lately, popping up everywhere from Reddit threads to theology TikTok: Was Jesus a zombie?
Curious minds are debating (albeit perhaps tongue in cheek) whether Christianity’s savior technically qualifies as a member of fiction’s most famous undead horde. After all, Jesus famously died, was buried, and then, three days later, rose again. He was quite literally the walking dead.
Is it possible Jesus qualifies as a zombie? And what makes a zombie, a zombie, anyway? Is it just rising from the grave, or does a "real" zombie need to be lurching around a graveyard, moaning for “braaaaaaains”?
As Halloween approaches and "zombies" prepare to wander the streets in search of tricks or treats, it seems fitting to explore these questions.
A Brief History of Zombies
While modern pop culture most frequently depicts zombies as the result of a viral outbreak or nuclear radiation, the modern zombie has roots that reach deep into Haitian spiritual folklore, where tales of the “zombi” described reanimated corpses controlled by sorcerers or spirits.
These stories made their way to the Western world in the early 20th century, often stripped of their cultural and spiritual context. Early Hollywood seized on the concept with films like White Zombie (1932), which depicted voodoo-style resurrection through black magic.
Over time, the shambling, undead zombie evolved from a Haitian symbol of slavery and spiritual domination into something more universal: a metaphor for humanity’s fears of loss, control, and the creeping unknowns of the nuclear age.
Related: The Secret Religious History of Halloween's Top Monsters
Zombies Invade Hollywood
The zombie film genre as we know it today was truly born with George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968), which reimagined zombies as cannibalistic hordes driven by insatiable hunger. From there, the undead spread like, well… a plague.
Movies like Dawn of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead, and 28 Days Later expanded zombie lore and redefined the archetype for new generations, films like Shaun of the Dead endlessly (and lovingly) parodied the genre, and TV shows like The Walking Dead ensured they stayed a cultural juggernaut well into the 21st century.
In modern pop culture, zombies have become a flexible symbol for everything from consumerism to pandemics to existential dread. Whether slow and stumbling or fast and feral, they endure as a reflection of what we fear most: not death itself, but the loss of humanity.
Was Jesus a Zombie?
So, was Jesus a zombie? Well, He hit some of the familiar beats: death, burial, and return. Some people have even begun referring to Easter as "Zombie Jesus Day":
But Jesus’ resurrection has few of the other hallmarks that have made zombies such an enduring icon in the last century.
The Gospels describe Jesus emerging from his tomb and appearing to his followers, who at first don’t recognize him. His crucifixion wounds are still visible, and he invites Thomas to touch them. It’s easy to see why modern audiences, steeped in decades of horror cinema, might draw such a connection.
Yet, the comparison only goes so far. Zombies in film and folklore are reanimated bodies, soulless, decaying, and enslaved to instinct, while Jesus’ resurrection is described as transcendent, conscious, and divine.
In Christian theology, he isn’t a corpse walking the earth, but a being who has conquered death itself and who returned to earth to fulfill a divine mission – and that mission quite clearly wasn’t to gobble up as many brains as possible. Both Jesus and zombies are resurrected, but that’s where the similarities end.
Ultimately, the “zombie Jesus” question is less about theology and more about language, and our endless fascination with life after death.
A greater understanding on the topic can be found in 'Zombies in Western Culture' ~ A Twenty First Century Crisis.... - John Vervaeke. He very clearly describes the state of the US political and religious crisis which is currently eroding the social and economic fabric of the nation.