Course Description

Instructor: Daniel Christian

Dante’s Divine Comedy is not an ancient, dead text but rather is alive and well. It invites readers to pursue the “examined life” within a spirit of “serious joy.” In preparation for joining Dante’s pilgrimage, we will initially explore C. S. Lewis’s A Grief Observed as a Dante-connected, literary stretching exercise. The following three classes will focus on Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso respectively. Welcome to the journey... 

Dan has taught Dante for over forty (40) years. In addition, he has had the opportunity to deliver numerous public presentations on the Divine Comedy, mostly while living and teaching in Baltimore, MD. Furthermore, Dan has published a few essays in scholarly journals, Lingua Romana from BYU and Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching out of Wichita State University, and he recently released an extended review of a new Dante book by poet Seth Steinzor, Once Was Lost. Finally, Dan created and edited a first-of-its-kind anthology of essays by high school students inspired by Dante which promotes writing from young people who not only read Dante with care but also courageously “let Dante read them.”