A Complete Reading of Dante’s Inferno

“He descended into hell…”

So says one of the ancient creeds of the Christian Church (The Apostle’s Creed) when speaking of the events of Holy Week.  After the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, ancient and medieval Christians (and some modern ones too) believed that Jesus descended into hell to free those souls trapped in bondage.  When that work was accomplished, Jesus rose again on what we now call Easter Sunday.  In the words of the creed, “On the third day he rose again from the dead.”

This year, FCCOL will be following that same ancient pattern.  We’ll gather at 6:00 p.m. in the Meetinghouse for a traditional Maundy Thursday service of Scripture, sacred song, and communion.  At 7:00, when the service is over, we’ll transition, reenacting our own descent into hell by reading the entirety of Dante’s Inferno in a darkened Meetinghouse.  We have 34 different readers for each of the 34 cantos.  Each canto will represent differing translations of the Inferno, some using traditional language, and some using very contemporary forms of expression.  We’ll take several breaks throughout, as music is played.  Coffee and refreshments will be available in the connector between the Meetinghouse and the Fellowship Hall.  For those who make it all the way to the end, emerging from the darkness of hell to see the stars once again, there shall be a late-night celebration of sherry and wine.  There will also be commemorative posters for those who make it all the way to the end.  It shall be an unforgettable night.

Here are several thoughts to help orient you for the evening:

  1. The poem begins on Maundy Thursday. And so it is fitting that we read it on that particular night.
  1. It is set in 1300, in the midst of a civil war then occurring in Italy between rival factions called the Guelphs and Ghibellines. The poem is filled with references to those realities, meaning that Dante is writing a theology of his own present, using all the mythological, theological, and literary resources that were available to him.
  1. Recall that Dante wrote his great work when he was a political refugee, reckoning with the disaster that had been unleashed upon his world.
  1. Recall as well that his journey into hell is but the first part of the poem. Healing is discovered in the second part, Purgatorio.  A vision of human flourishing is found in the third, Paradiso.  Ask yourself: do we also need to go beyond hell?  What does it mean to heal from the sufferings inflicted there?  And what might a life of flourishing look like, imaginatively and poetically speaking?
  1. Don’t get hung up on whether you believe – theologically speaking – in Dante’s project. This is a poetic description of this world and of the world to come.  It’s not meant to be read as a metaphysical treatise.  It is poetic, which is to say, existential, in character.
  1. You won’t follow each and every reference. Don’t worry about that.  Let the language wash over you, the way you might let a piece of music wash over you.
  1. If you get restless or sleepy, get up and walk around. You don’t have to be still throughout the reading.  Walk out and get a cup of coffee.  Or go to sleep in the pews.  (What an interesting way to let sleep find you – while Dante’s words are being read aloud.  Surely you will have vivid dreams!)
  1. If you can’t make it through the entire reading, just come for part of it.
  1. Let your curiosity be piqued. Who are these people that we’ll be meeting?  What is this world that we’re exploring?  How does it reflect not only Dante’s world, but the world that we live in?
  1. Above all, have fun with it. Relish the fact that you’re able to explore one of the world’s great classics this Holy Week, a text that has funded the imagination of generations of religious and secular thinkers alike.