Born into families without great wealth or notable prestige a thousand years apart, two men influenced not only literary history but also the ideals of man in a relationship with God. During the mid-years of their lives, Dante Alighieri and St. Augustine de Hippo studied the religious climate of their generations and experienced transformations in their lives bringing about personal spiritual enlightenment. Affected by the state of the church, Christianity, and their moral indiscretions, both Dante and Augustine wrote responsively towards their personal beliefs and values shaped by distinctive circumstances. The compositions of Confessions and The Divine Comedy highlight the spiritual journeys of these two authors. In addition, these …show more content…
Chadwick stated Augustine “did not think of Manichee adherence as a break with Christ, but only with the Church of which he was highly critical” (Chadwick 2009). However, after several years of following this type of “religion,” Augustine began to become skeptical and harbor doubts about everything he understood and believed from Mani. Doubt arose to the point that Augustine began a search to justify the Mani belief system. It was one such moment, “listening to the Bishop of Milan, that Augustine became drawn to Christianity” (Puchner pp. 46). At first, Augustine intended to only listen and gain insight from the teaching of others. However, he found himself instead “passing from Manichaeism into skepticism and soon found his way out of psychological deadlock” (Chadwick pp. 18; 27). Augustine’s process of learning came through self-evaluations and heading the words of trusted friends and fellow scholars of his time.
Similarly, the religious climate of Dante’s life dealt with strife, however, during the medieval times it fell between the rule of the church and emperor. Dante grew up in a family with the means to provide for an education and he was a student “keen on study and learning” (Musa, 1983). Unlike Augustine, Dante’s path to spiritual realization was a personal journey that revolved around his personal desires. Instead of focusing inward and spiritually, Musa states, that Dante “applied his energies to philosophy” and developed his “view of love as the most
In Book III of Confessions, his range of “rotten…ulcerous” sins expands from teenage pranks to attending public spectacles and reading tragedies. Augustine suspects that seeking truth might be more important than worldly success. In Book III he also stumbles upon the Manichees faith, which is a heretical version of Christianity. In this section much of this book is dedicated to attacking the Manichee faith. Augustine’s first criticism of the Manichee doctrines he believed concerned their dependence on an elaborate mythology. The sun and the moon were seenas divine beings and they tended to picture divinity in terms of “physical images” or “bodily shapes”. These images plagued Augustines mind almost until his conversion, which kept him from recognizing God as a “spiritual substance” rather than some sort of enormous physical mass. Augustine has 3 main criticisms for the Manichee belief. The first being that it challenged the concerns of nature and the source of evil. Second, it challenged the nature of God as a being and the idea of God as omnipotent and omnipresent. And thirdly, the rejection of the book of Genesis and much of the Old Testament.. Augustine concludes with a story of how
It was a short time after his exposure to Classical philosophy that Augustine joined the Manicheans. The Manicheans believed that spiritual salvation and the grace of God could only be achieved through study and interpretation of the Bible and other works to find specialized, secret knowledge. The Manicheans held a certain appeal for Augustine. The belief that only through higher reasoning and study could one achieve grace, fit with Augustine's own perception of the value of reasoning, and classical rationalism. Augustine was a skilled rhetorician and orator, and had a great deal of confidence in his intellectual superiority. The Manicheans also felt themselves intellectually superior, and Augustine was drawn to this sect in part, because of his intellectual snobbery.
This want of something more concrete but metaphysical leads straight into the fifth chapter, “Manichaeism.” This details the future bishop’s obsession with the mysteries and dualism of the Manichean teaching, as well as Augustine’s work at spreading the Manichee philosophy, as well as his love for what it made him, rather that what it actually taught. “Friends,” the sixth chapter, details his life with his unnamed concubine among his celibate Manichee comrades. Next, the seventh chapter, titled “Success,” outlines Augustine’s first taste of fame as a writer and as a public speaker. Thus, Brown ends part I.
Who is Dante? He was a man that had a desire to find the truths of heaven and earth even from a very young age; his goal was to understand the three worlds in his mind of hell, purgatory and paradise so that he could find the true everlasting happiness. In Dante’s age there was not really a separation between church and state. “Dante 's philosophical view was also a political view. In Dante 's time, there were two major political factions, the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Originally, the Ghibellines represented the medieval aristocracy, which wished to retain the power of the Holy Roman Emperor in Italy, as well as in other parts of Europe. The Ghibellines fought hard in this struggle for the nobility to retain its feudal powers over the land and the people in contrast, the Guelphs, of which Dante was a member, were mainly supported by the rising middle class, represented by rich merchants, bankers, and new landowners. The enemy was politically, philosophically, and theologically wrong — and thus a Heretic” He was a supporter of the papacy which was a direct opposition to the Holy Roman Emperor, therefore putting himself in danger of his beliefs.
The political turmoil became further drawn out between opposition for the empire to have power or whether the power should be held by the papacy. According to Dante and Thomas Aquinas, a philosopher and Franciscan during Dante’s time, they both agree that the church’s role did not require the amount of power they were trying to acquire. However, a lot of that changed when Pope Celestine V abandoned his duties of the papacy which gave rise to Dante’s biggest enemy, Pope Boniface VIII. Unlike Aquinas, for Dante the biggest things were the effect on the community and the infiltration of trust which most of his characters in the Inferno are guilty of. However the infiltration within the church is much too widespread and personally affected Dante; in turn in his poem he has placed them in different levels of hell to make them wish they can repent what they did on earth, as the inferno is a journey reflection of the
In both the Inferno and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the central characters are riddled with moral inadequacies. Both Dante and Gawain set forth on a journey that reveals the flaws within themselves. Each is faced with challenges that force them to go against their original beliefs. Dante endures a full 180 degree transformation on his views of sin and Gawain is unable to uphold the perfect identity of knighthood. Based on these journeys the nature of the individual in medieval literature is to be in a state of identity crisis because Dante’s views of salvation are based on arrogance and Gawain is obsessed with perfection. The self view of each character provide an element of moral progression throughout the story and the ultimate theme behind each piece of literature.
In St. Augustine’s Confessions and Dante’s Inferno, the central characters in their respective narratives are presented a message from which induces distinct reactions. More importantly, their reactions are reflections of their perspective concerning the Christian outlook
"What is fame? Fame is but a slow decay Even this shall pass away." Theodore Tilton The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, is a poem laden with such Christian themes as love, the search for happiness, and the desire to see God. Among these Christian themes, however, is Dante's obsession with and desire for fame, which seems to be a surprising departure from conventional medieval Christian morality. Indeed, as the poem progresses, a striking contradiction emerges. Dante the writer, in keeping with Christian doctrine, presents the desire for fame and glory among the souls of Inferno in order to replace it with humility among the souls of Purgatorio. Yet this purification of desire is not entirely embraced by Dante,
C. His writing style not only consisted of some literature firsts, but also his ability to make the reader feel present in the story
While St. Thomas Aquinas established himself as the New Aristotle of the 13th century, Dante Alighieri established himself the new Virgil. The two men made an immense impact in their respective fields (poetry and philosophy). Yet surprisingly, the two share common ideals. In each of their respective literary and philosophical views, they establish the importance of the relationship between nature and grace. In Dante’s Inferno the unique relationship of grace and nature is made apparent and reflects the writings of Aquinas’ “Summa Theologica”. Dante’s pilgrimage through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise exhibit and reflect St. Thomas’ understanding of the relationship of nature and grace. Dante
According to The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Dante Alighieri’s poem, the Inferno, is monumentally influential part of literature, especially the European literature. The poem is structured around creating an image of hell. Regarding religion, the poem has had its share of prevalence. In his work,
Originally written during the fourth century, St. Augustine’s autobiographical book, Confessions, was among the most influential models for Christian writers over the course of a millennium. As it is arguably Augustine’s most important text, it continues to influence theological discussion even today. Through writing Confessions, Augustine proves himself to be a professional scrutinizer. He analyzes every aspect of his own existence in pertinence to his purpose on Earth and relationship with God. Amongst the numerous topics covered in Confessions, Augustine makes exceptional mention to the role that friendship plays in his spiritual journey. In St. Augustine’s Confessions, the role of friendship is seen as both a method of ascending to God while also a being a means of drawing him further away through sin on his journey to spiritual contentment.
At the same time, however, the religious function of Dante’s poem must not be neglected. In the opening lines of The Inferno, Dante embarks on a journey and finds himself “in a dark wood, for the straight way was lost” (Inferno, I, 2-3). Dante’s description of the dark wood indicates the lack of God’s light, and thus informs readers of the life he lived in the condition of sin. These opening lines establish the religious context for the poem, as Dante has deviated from “the straight way”, the way to God. Furthermore, Lee H. Yearley contributes to this religious perspective by
Dante had his fair share of the real human experience, whilst traveling through hell in Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy”. Characters in literature have been popularized since this masterpiece to favor sins as a type of personality trope. The lazy bum, the angry husband, or the prideful peacocks; the list goes on and on. The cause and effect of these traits have served well to teach generations of readers, the ideas and meanings of our actions as humans. Although it is rare, some works leave open ended plots for us to contemplate the meaning of said sin. In conjunction to some of the deadly sins, the main characters from “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Veldt”, and “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister”, all display a truth about human nature.
Before submitting himself to God, Augustine lived a life controlled by various sinful tendencies such as theft and lust. Surrounded by strong believers of Catholicism, such as his mother, St. Monica, Augustine grew up questioning Christ and the faith and rather explored other religions. Two religions that Augustine devoted himself to were Manichaeism and Neoplatonism. While both religions had strengths and flaws, neither truly satisfied Augustine’s spiritual emptiness. Before devoting himself fully to the Catholic faith, Augustine is seen as an honorable saint because of the significance of his works and teachings. Augustine’s conversion from Manichaeism to Neoplatonism to Catholicism as noted through Confessions, transformed his life from being powered by sin and immortality to a life dominated by rectitude and devotion.