o The poem is an impressive fusion of classical and Christian
cultures; both the descent to the underworld and the ascent to
heaven are classical themes, but Dante combines them with the
distinctive Christian understanding of purgatory as the place of
postmortem purification.o Combining political commentary and religious pathos in a
structure as impressive as Thomas’s Summa, Dante imagines
a world in which human freedom and divine love intertwine in
a drama that extends from the coldness of alienation from the
divine to the ecstatic bliss of the vision of God.o As much as Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus, Dante’s poetry
reveals the essence of the High Middle Ages in its synthesis of
unity and beauty, of classical and Christian themes, and in the
organization of all reality as a movement toward God.Evans, ed., The Medieval Theologians.
Wei, Intellectual Culture in Medieval Paris.
- Compare and contrast the spirit and structure of the medieval and
contemporary universities. - How did Scholastic theology provide an overarching view of reality that
made sense of all other learning?
Questions to Consider
Suggested Reading