
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Hell is murky. Today we enter limbo, which is technically the least painful section of hell but actually leaves me with some of the toughest questions in the poem. What does Dante make--what do Christians in general make--of all the noble, wise, and humane people who apparently lived outside the reach of Christ? Were they outside His reach? Are human virtues enough to save us? If so, why aren't we doing better?? Dante, in his characteristic way, rachets these questions up to 11 and then moves through them subtly, confoundingly, and above all, beautifully. His poetry leads us to contemplate what it might look like for God's justice and God's mercy to become one.
Sign up for Hebrew, Greek, or Latin courses at the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/heretics/
Check out my book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://amzn.to/4tKWACP
Read my review of Backrooms: https://www.thefp.com/p/the-kids-who-grew-up-online-are-coming-for-hollywood-backrooms
Get the Anthony Esolen translation: https://amzn.to/4sgKLTj
Get the Dorothy L. Sayers translation: https://amzn.to/4djdh2s
Read the Allen Mandelbaum translation: https://amzn.to/4dG6izR
00:00 Introduction
01:05 Canto 3: Hell's Vestibule
24:25 Appetites and Inhabitants of Hell
44:22 Tragedies of Futility and Fate
56:28 Mailbag: Meditations on Suffering
1:09:56 Closing Remarks
By Spencer Klavan4.9
44454,445 ratings
Hell is murky. Today we enter limbo, which is technically the least painful section of hell but actually leaves me with some of the toughest questions in the poem. What does Dante make--what do Christians in general make--of all the noble, wise, and humane people who apparently lived outside the reach of Christ? Were they outside His reach? Are human virtues enough to save us? If so, why aren't we doing better?? Dante, in his characteristic way, rachets these questions up to 11 and then moves through them subtly, confoundingly, and above all, beautifully. His poetry leads us to contemplate what it might look like for God's justice and God's mercy to become one.
Sign up for Hebrew, Greek, or Latin courses at the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/heretics/
Check out my book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://amzn.to/4tKWACP
Read my review of Backrooms: https://www.thefp.com/p/the-kids-who-grew-up-online-are-coming-for-hollywood-backrooms
Get the Anthony Esolen translation: https://amzn.to/4sgKLTj
Get the Dorothy L. Sayers translation: https://amzn.to/4djdh2s
Read the Allen Mandelbaum translation: https://amzn.to/4dG6izR
00:00 Introduction
01:05 Canto 3: Hell's Vestibule
24:25 Appetites and Inhabitants of Hell
44:22 Tragedies of Futility and Fate
56:28 Mailbag: Meditations on Suffering
1:09:56 Closing Remarks

153,303 Listeners

3,300 Listeners

556 Listeners

2,117 Listeners

6,895 Listeners

22,692 Listeners

33,113 Listeners

28,332 Listeners

1,226 Listeners

43,870 Listeners

1,074 Listeners

2,378 Listeners

8,402 Listeners

26,639 Listeners

1,430 Listeners