The Divine Comedy:What Dante believed

The back cover of The Divine Comedy says, "Dante is the greatest of Italian poets, and his Divine Comedy is the finest of all Christian allegories". What is meant by this statement? Are Dante's writings a source of Christian theology? Can he be trusted as a proponent of Biblical teaching? Does his writing portray a worldview parallel to the Bible? As Christians, it is important to understand the meaning behind what people say and write; everything must be tested against a sound Biblical worldview before it should be accepted as fact. Because Dante's work is considered by most to be accurate Christian theology, it is especially necessary to test it against the truth of God's word. The first, and most logical comparison to make while testing Dante's accuracy against the Bible, is the views on life after death, this being the topic of The Divine Comedy.

According to the Bible, what happens to man after death?

Hebrews 9:27 - Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

Romans 14:10b - For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.

Romans 2:2 - Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.

After death, man must face judgment. All men will stand before the God's judgment seat and there God will determine based on truth where they shall spend eternity. Those found washed in the blood of Jesus will spend eternity in Heaven with God. However, those that have not accepted God's gift of eternal life will spend eternity in the anguish and torment of Hell. What of Dante? What do we know of his view of life after death?

The fact that he wrote a three part book describing in great detail what happens to man after death indicates that he must have thought a great deal about it. The question is, what is it he thought? In his allegory, Dante describes ferrymen. One of the ferrymen ferried souls to Hell, and the other ferried them across the sea into Purgatory. The souls which had died without faith in God were taken to Hell where they would be led to the level equated with the atrocity of their sins; whereas the souls which had died in God were taken to the shores of Purgatory where they could pay for their sins. According to Dante, heaven could only be attained after the climb of Mount Purgatory was complete. Dante's belief in Purgatory brings the sufficiency of Christ's death into question.

Is Jesus Christ’s death on the cross totally sufficient to pay for the salvation of all of mankind? Must anything be added to it to complete it?

John 14:6 - Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 19:30 - When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Titus 3:5 - he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

Ephesians 2:8 -For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

Jesus is all sufficient. Jesus death is in fact the only thing equal to the price of salvation. When he died, salvation's price was paid in full. There was nothing left to be done. Jesus said Himself that all was finished and complete. Because of His mercy, He did it all. Christ left nothing for us to do, not even our faith is our own. Mankind is completely deprived and must remain in complete dependence on God. What did Dante think about Christ’s death and human dependency and reliance on His finished work?

Dante only saw Christ's death as the first step toward salvation. In his view it was the first separating factor between Heaven and Hell. However the death of Jesus Christ was not the end of the journey toward Heaven, instead it was only partially sufficient. His death did not pay the price of sin. Sin was paid for by each individual in the climbing of Mount Purgatory. For each sin, a time and punishment was allotted and there was no escaping it. Christ's death did not ensure that the 'saved' souls would spend eternity with God. Even though they were in heaven, the levels of heaven were separate. Dante’s heaven was not the heaven described in the Bible. Dante seemed to indicate that there was still separation from God in heaven. The worse a sinner you were in life, the farther you resided from God in heaven. These are just the start of the flaws in Dante’s work.

It would be far easier to let Dante’s work rest in peace, but flaws in theology can never go unnoticed. One of the biggest mistakes Dante made was the mixing of Christian and classical thinking. Specifically, he mixed the ideas of the Greek and Roman philosophers with those of the Bible. In writing an allegory supposedly based on Biblical theology, Dante did not make good character choices. His choice of Virgil, a non-Christian poet, as his guide through the afterlife was especially unwise. Similarly, for readers not grounded in the Bible, the many references to Greek and Roman deities can be confusing. The mixing of Greek, Roman, and Christian thinking gives the reader a sense that each perspective is equal.

Along with his overuse of classical thinking Dante also dwelt far too much on the figure of Beatrice. In his work she was the guide through heaven. He saw her as a moral paradigm and one of the threefold images of divine grace. He spent an inordinate amount of time lingering on her character, though he relayed only a few distinct details to us in his repetitious descriptions. He gave her more credit and attention than he did God. In doing so, he was setting her up as his god.

The underlying problem with Dante's work is the removal of God’s significance in our lives. By raising man to God's level and refusing to give glory where glory is due, he undermined the finished work of Jesus Christ in our lives. Twisting the Bible to fit his own beliefs, and mixing it with classical thinking caused him to lose touch with what was really true. As Christians it is important to be mindful of truth so we do not fall into the same trap. Through critical reading and the testing of everything against scripture, we can stay strong in our faith and not be swayed by everything that comes our way.