Scholasticism

Recently we have spent some time getting familiar with the basic outlines of Thomist philosophy. Thomas Aquinas is so important in the development of Christian culture that one must necessarily deal with his brilliant output at some level. The term usually given to his kind of work is "Scholasticism," and Aquinas was certainly not the only Medieval to generate such material.

Also important to note is that Scholasticism did not really die with the Middle Ages, though in popular thought the two are nearly always put together--i.e., Scholasticism is a superrationalistic form of unnecessary disputation about things like how many angels can dance on the head of pin, a form of discourse that those benighted Medieval Catholics got lost in and from which Protestants rescued the Church.

In fact, Protestants developed their own forms of Scholasticism, and this article is useful for getting a feel for the development of that tradition, one that most Protestants are entirely ignorant of.

One Last Post On Dante

We are wrapping up our discussion of The Inferno, but one last post on Dante might be of interest.

I'll give you just the title to whet your appetite:

"Zombies Meet Dante at the Mall."

Many translations of Dante's Divine Comedy are available, but the one we are using is by Anthony Esolen. In this interview, Esolen discusses the work, but he also talks about contemporary cultural issues, especially the problems with defining masculinity today. Esolen is a professor of English, and he's also a conservative Catholic who has written widely on contemporary issues.

A good review of Esolan's translation can be found here.

Dante and Dostoevsky on Hell

Dante, of course, didn't literally believe that hell was structured the way he depicts it in The Inferno. Nor was his depiction of punishment for sins like lust, usury, and murder in any official way taught by the Medieval Church. Dante was getting at something deeper by using literary tools, and an interesting bit of help on what Dante was up to comes from the Russian novelist Dostoevsky.

Here is a passage from "The Brothers Karamazov" . Though there are some variations between Dostoevsky's Russian Orthodox Background and Dante's Medieval Catholic background, both literary artists put their finger on a truth all Christians can accept: hell is in a sense self-chosen. God does not send one to hell, but one sends him- or herself to hell.

More on Dante and Art

More on Dante and art. In this case, we have more images from Gustav Dore's famous images of the Divine Comedy, this time set to music from Liszt.

Dante on Film

One of the most famous artistic realizations of Dante's Divine Comedy is found in the artwork of Gustav Dore. In 1911, Italian filmaker Francesco Bertoli produced a a film version of The Inferno, and it was apparently the first full length film of Italian cinema. Bertoli used Dore's artwork as the basis for his film, and selections from it can be found on Youtube.

Hail to the Chief

John Hodges does not go to great lengths to toot his own horn, which is natural for a well-developed Christian, so I will take this opportunity to remind those involved with the Institute about the qualifications of the man leading us in this experiment.

I want to point to one of John's accomplishments--his participation in The Trinity Arts Conference from several years ago. If you look at the other participants, you will see that John keeps good company. Several of the other speakers are nationally known writers and academics who have written important books on the relationship between Christianity and Culture.

I wanted to inform readers of this blog about John's background to help promote the Institute by helping you to see that John has spent much time and effort in getting to where he is today. Please give the Institute due consideration in whatever fashion you can, knowing that the impetus behind it results from a vigorous Christian vision that has been shaped by years of thought and work.