Harrowing of Hell

Brief survey from Gospel of Nicodemus to cycle drama, where the Harrowing is a “mirror of changing doctrine on the Redemption.” Typically a vehicle for three themes – of imprisonment and release of Joseph of Arimathea and Christ’s lineage, of fulfillment of prophecies, and of the Redemption – in PPl as in cycle drama it becomes a “forum for a debate between Christ and the devils on the justice of freeing the souls in hell.”