Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy

Dante's Divine Comedy should be something every Christian appreciates, even if they don't love it.

Look Inside the Book

As one of the supreme Christian epic poems, Dante's Divine Comedy provides not only far more personality and emotional depth than the pagan epics, it also opens up all the issues on which Western history turns—truth, beauty, goodness, sin, sanctification, and triumph. For all that, C.S. Lewis loved the Comedy for its seemingly effortless poetry. In this guide Peter Leithart uses a biblical angle to open up the Comedy for students, high school and up. He begins his discussion by examining the meaning and place of the courtly love tradition and then introduces us to the varied levels of meaning throughout the work. In the heart of the guide, Leithart walks us carefully through the craft and symbolism of each progressive stage—Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Each section contains helpful study questions. Lean about "the love that moves the sun and other stars."

What People Are Saying:

"Reading Dante for the first time. I found Ascent to Love to be helpful, and I would advise a first time reader of Dante to read Ascent to Love prior to starting on the Divine Comedy. It will enrich the experience." -Jim Orrick, Southern Baptist Journal of Theology