Dante Anyone?

 Good morning friends,

 

A friend of mine recently made me aware of a project between six universities on Dante’s Divine Comedy that I want to pass on to you. While the list is below, I’ll point out that they include Baylor (a Baptist school) and Gonzaga (a Roman Catholic school) – yes, they both have good basketball teams but more importantly, if you can believe it, they also have great professors.

 

Three times a week the project sends a link to a short video by a professor, usually less than ten minutes, that leads participants through the Divine Comedy (they also provide the text from the Divine Comedy for each presentation). Previous videos can be watched anytime. These men and women know their material and they are great to watch – they are more excited about Dante than Gonzaga’s basketball fans are about their team (well…maybe that was hyperbole).

 

There is a reason Dante is considered one of the greatest poets of all time; and there is a reason he is considered an amazing Christian thinker. It is said that he was C.S. Lewis’s favorite poet, this means that Lewis not only appreciated how Dante wrote, but what Dante wrote.

 

I hear a lot about “worldview,” and yet our worldview seems to change with the newspaper headlines, and what we value today we are fully prepared to discard tomorrow if it suits our agendas. Dante presents a Biblical worldview that is focused on the glory of God and the transformative glory of Jesus Christ. He not only calls sin “sin,” but he unpacks how sin corrupts mankind. Thankfully, he also shows us the way of transformation into the image of Christ and portrays the glory of God in a fashion that leaves even him at a loss for words.

 

In a season of history in which our teeth are rotting from cotton candy, I hope you will consider taking this journey through the Divine Comedy; Baylor and the other schools have done an amazing job on this project.

 

Here is a link to the website and below is an excerpt from the website:

 

https://100daysofdante.com/

 

From the Baylor University website:

 

100 DAYS OF DANTE

 

A Presentation of

 

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY HONORS COLLEGE

 

With Support From

 

TORREY HONORS COLLEGE AT BIOLA UNIVERSITY

TEMPLETON HONORS COLLEGE AT EASTERN UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS

WHITWORTH UNIVERSITY

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY/ GONZAGA IN FLORENCE

 

 

At some point, we’ve all been lost, or looked up to see the path ahead dark and unclear. For some of us it’s at the beginning of our spiritual journeys or when we face a hard decision. For others it’s after many years of life, when we wonder what might be coming next.

 

And for one poet, over 700 years ago in Florence, Italy, it was midway through his life’s journey.

 

Welcome to One Hundred Days of Dante.

 

Baylor’s Honors College, with support from five collaborating universities, will lead the world’s largest Dante reading group this fall in honor of the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death. Through a beautifully designed, engaging website, we’ll read Dante’s wondrous poem, the Divine Comedy, and discover how it can change our outlook, love of God, and embrace of neighbor.

 

Through 100 short, accessible videos led by our faculty and others, we will guide readers around the world through the poem. Starting this September, tune in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to hear from a great teacher who shares their love of Dante with us, and then share your insights with all of us through conversations on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #100daysofdante.

 

100 Days of Dante is for all of us who want to read a great poem accompanied by a guiding light. For us who want to read not just for careful thinking, but for thoughtful living, applying the wisdom of the past to our own lives.

 

Visit the website now to watch a brief video and sign up for updates. This is 100 Days of Dante: let’s read together.

 

https://100daysofdante.com/