On Maundy Thursday, April 17th, we will return to Dante for the third and final part of The Divine Comedy – the Paradiso. It’s an often overlooked and under read section of the poem, as many readers have preferred the creative torments of the Inferno and the Purgatorio. But it’s actually a beautiful and moving finale to the entire poetic journey – and it’s loaded with theological and psychological, as well as social and political insights. Where the Inferno demonstrates the violent disorder that besets human lives and societies governed solely by self-interest, and the Purgatorio demonstrates what it is to heal from those disorders, the Paradiso is bold enough to imagine what flourishing human lives and communities might look like, refracted through the lens of a Divine love.
As in previous years, we’ll be reading the entirety of the poem aloud on Maundy Thursday, following our traditional service. We’ll begin at 7, and continue well into the night. Individual readers are encouraged to sign up for particular cantos. There are 33, and so we’ll need 33 readers – there are still a few available! Those who have already signed up can pick up their assigned cantos in the church office. And, like the previous two years, commemorative posters will be made for the evening.
For those who might be interested, a few enthusiasts have been meeting on Mondays at 6:30 in the Hoag Parlor to read selected cantos. The conversations are lively, and we’ve been uniformly inspired by the insights that emerge from lingering with Dante’s images. All are welcome to join us as we prepare for Maundy Thursday.
There are any number of worthy translations, but we’ve been favoring the Hollander and the Palma translations. If you’re interested in some of the secondary literature, Peter Hawkins’ Dante’s Testaments is highly recommended, as is his lecture on the Paradiso found in Undiscovered Country. Another brand new resource is a history of the Commedia and its influence on the world, written by Joseph Luzzi: Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Biography.