A Complete Reading of Dante’s “Paradiso”

Maundy Thursday, April 17, 7:00 p.m.

On Maundy Thursday, April 17, we will return to Dante for the third and final part of “The Divine Comedy” – the “Paradiso.” It’s an often overlooked and underread 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.

Each of the cantos will be read by different readers, 34 in total.  Their voices, inflections, interpretations, and performances help to usher us into the vitality of the Paradiso.  Not only that, we’ll be hearing a number of different translations, alerting us to the possibilities contained within Dante’s language.  Each reader and each translation is an invitation to place ourselves within the sacred drama unfolding throughout the evening.