Purgatorio, Canto 22 with Dr. Julia Hejduk
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- čas přidán 12. 01. 2022
- Dr. Julia Hejduk of Baylor University reflects on Canto 22 of Dante's Purgatorio.
100 Days of Dante is brought to you by Baylor University in collaboration with the Torrey Honors College at Biola University, University of Dallas, Templeton Honors College at Eastern University, the Gonzaga-in-Florence Program and Gonzaga University, and Whitworth University, with support from the M.J. Murdock Trust. To learn more about our project, and read with us, visit 100daysofdante.com
Great exposition and wonderfully moving conclusion. 👏🏻 👏🏻👏🏻 God bless you Dr. Hejduk.
Dr. Hejduk presents a wonderfully clear and insightful commentary that is the bridge between classics and Christianity. The importance of Virgil as a "prophet" and the evolution of faithful think is beautifully presented from a profound mind and a deep heart.
Thank you for that incredibly personal yet intellectually challenging analysis, Dr. Hejduk. Now we can think about whether Dante the poet has actually revealed one of the major connections between, as you so beautifully put it, Athens and Jerusalem. Or at least hinted at it by making Virgil our guide here. Funny how if you put a bunch of intellectuals in a room with a brilliant piece of literature they can find a whole lot more in that work than you could working by yourself for 50 years. And why are so many so quick to cut funding to higher education again?
An exceptional presentation, one that i’ve marked to come back to because there is so much in it. And I’ll remember more than goldilocks.
Wow! Thank you Dr. Hejduk. This was a outstanding commentary connecting, for me at least, two distinct, but inseparable worlds. Thank you for including your personal journey.
Thank you! This tying of classics to Christianity was new to me and has answered a lot of questions and, like Dante, has now made me desire more knowledge.
A touching and illuminating commentary on the canto. With few exceptions, the series so far has been great.
Canto 22: Having had the tattoo of Avarice removed from his forehead by the Angel of Moderation, Dante progresses more readily with fellow poets Virgil and Statius. Virgil inquires of Statius why he was found on the Cornice of Avarice and how he, a pagan poet, gained his faith as a Christian. Statius replies that prior to his reading of Virgil regarding the use of wealth, he had been a spendthrift, squandering his talents, and, therefore, was assigned to the Fifth Cornice for purgation. Moreover, reading Virgil’s “Eclogues-Bucolics” had led him to examine Christianity more closely and, finally, to be baptized. However, he remained a “crypto-Christian” and, thus, also had spent centuries in the Fourth Cornice of Sloth. The three poets come upon a tree with a reversed tapper, smaller at the bottom and broader at the crown, that proclaims this Terrace’s set of exhortations. The Marian cord indicates her lack of self-concern at Cana in lieu of her desire for Jesus to help the groom have an enjoyable feast; the secular cord speaks of Roman women who abstain from wine; and the scriptural cord tells the story of Daniel refusing to eat non-kosher food. Other exhortations relate stories of acorns, nectar and John the Baptist’s desert fare, all of which are directed to purgation through the virtue of abstinence needed by the Gluttons of the Sixth Cornice.
What a beautiful and personal summation. I have loved every one of these videos, but this one blew me away. Thank you, Dr. Hejduk.
True and beautiful commentary. Thank you, Dr. Hejduk
This is excellent. Not only are we given the tools to understand the beauty of Dante's work we gain a new understanding of why the classics matter and how even they point to Christ.
This was just THE BEST. Connections were made and LIGHTS went on for me as you guided us into and through this Canto. Thank you!
Outstanding. What a wonderful celebration of classical learning. And how poignant is the description of Virgil lighting those behind him. Thank you.
This was so beautiful!!! I get chills every time I listen to it! Oh, I'd love to i hear more of your journey!!! I loved in Pilgrim's Regress how Lewis shows the Gentiles drawings to God. Lewis is my spiritual father in describing a Jesus of grace to me at last, in a way I could embrace at least a bit, in Aslan. I'd only known a God who loves us to suffer. Lewis was nurture to my tortured soul through my imaginationfor I longed for an Aslan who would "kiss" me, too, like he did Lucy...why oh why is dear Virgil in hell then???? I've grown to love him so very very much!!!!
@Lori, thank you so much for this response, and for falling in love with Virgil! That is what we are meant to do--and to PRAY FOR HIM. The story is still unfolding, and we, the largest Dante reading group in history, are a part of it. In this life, we may never find out the effect of our prayers...but we do know that love is stronger than death.
@@juliahejduk1903 I'd never thought of that! I thought he'll was a set decision. Virgil reminds me so much of Emeth in The Last Battle. I'd asked the people in charge if I could take a real class somehow to learn more; not for credit, but for deep love to understand! If you teach one, let me know! I'm so intrigued by your reference to how Virgil led to Christ. Professor Markos speaks of this idea of classics leading to Christ too. I've wanted to learn so much!! Thank you so much for responding!
@@juliahejduk1903 this is what I was about to comment. I teared up when you expressed thankfulness to Virgil and the image of him leading with his torch for those behind him but he himself standing in darkness broke my heart and I felt a deep need to pray for him, and I did. Thank you Dr Julia. I am very moved
Thank you, Dr Hejduk, for your heartfelt message
Beautifully done! My favorite so far.
Such a personal and heartfelt testimony. Isn’t this the reason for the poetry; encourage each one to take a inward journey and reach Paradise. Dr. Hejduk through your personal journey you have shown us a path. Your love for God is so deep. Thank you
Wow! You gave me so much to ponder on. Especially how, for you, the beliefs of Christianity became non-fictional since classical literature spoke of it without realizing it would materialize. What an eye opener!
Outstanding. A wonderful celebration of he role of classical learning in education. Virgil holding the lamp behind so others can see while he proceeds in darkness is a stunning image. Thank you.
I gladly "drink the draft of your doctrine," and thank you for the smear of honey.
Simply excellent.
Gave me chills.
Thank you. That's touching...
The classics matter! Thank you, Dr. Hejduk, for defending the great tradition we have inherited. Goodness, Truth, and Beauty pervade all things that exist, and God truly has used the Western canon of literature and philosophy for incredible good. I, too, am one of these cases and am constantly propelled towards Christ the more I am enriched in the beautiful history given to us all.
"You did as one upon the road at night
who holds a torch that those behind may see,
though he himself's unaided by the light,"
This captures another thought that is important. How do we view history, especially the history of wisdom? It seems quite normal in modern times to view ourselves as constantly progressing in a forward motion that leaves the past behind. But it seems to me that it is better to view our earthly lineage like this dark road upon which many others have travelled before. We follow in their footsteps, and stand on the shoulders of giants as we make the same journey through life that has been made before. The torches ahead are great gifts to cherish and attend to. If we let them be extinguished or snuff them ourselves, we risk plunging our own journeys into darkness and leaving who comes after us in a worse path than we had been given.
The Word of God came not to destroy the good of the past, but to reveal how much more there is in Him. I am thankful the Church has, for the most part, understood this in relation to the classics. There are those who seek diligently to deny it today, but we can see through them.
Thank you!
Beautifully said 🙏🏻
Excellent!! The quote from Virgil is beautiful but melancholy.
Excellent insights! Thank you!
This is fascinating and moving. Thank you Dr. Hejduk!
Clearly presented and just beautiful! Thank you!
Thank you! Excellent commentary!
I loved this presentation. Thank you, Dr Heyduk.
That was quite riveting. I will definitely listen to that analysis again.
Thank you very much for sharing this deeply moving and intimate commentary.
Beautifully bridging the gap. 👏🏻
At various points throughout the Divine Comedy and in this Canto 22 we see the issue of why Virgil is not saved but rather relegated to the antechamber of hell given that he was not baptized. The theological question here is can souls be saved without be formally part of the Church. The Vatican Council'sLumen Gentium answer in the affirmative.
Here is one of the key sentences:
Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience.(19*) Nor does Divine Providence deny the helps necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to live a good life.
Dante I think would say that Virgil met the requirements of that sentence.
I read the comments about this presentation and I think to myself, "What am I missing?" In comparison with many other very fine presentations I find this one sub-optimal. What does Goldilocks have to do with Canto twenty-two? There were so many important points left out in favor of some extraneous or esoteric references.
In Canto 22 Statius talks about the level where the Gluttons (greedy) and the Prodigals (wasteful) do penance for those sins. Aristotle's Golden Mean is the idea that the Golden Way (the correct path) falls between two extremes. Goldilocks (Golden hair) always found her preference between the extremes of big and small, hot and cold, hard and soft.
@@darryhoward7261 Thank you Darry, I appreciate your excellent explanation. Too bad it wasn't part of the presentation. Some of us who enjoy learning about Dante and the Divine Comedy are not as learned and sophisticated as others may be.
@@treborketorm I had to look up Aristotle's Golden Mean to find the meaning of it myself. New info for me.
22-100 Days Transcript
“Through you I became a poet, through you a Christian” These are some of the most stunning and important words in the whole Divine Comedy. But also intimately connected to my own journey as a classicist and as a Christain. Let me explain.
Tertullian, the early 3rd century firebrand, who has been called the father of Latin Christianity, famously asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” In other words, why bother with the Greek and Roman classics, which for centuries had been the basic currency of education if all that really matters is faith in Jesus Christ? Various forms of this question have haunted education at every level throughout the whole history of Christianity, starting with Christ himself. Academics would do well to remember our Lord’s shocking words, “I thank thee Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes.”
And yet this meeting between Statius and Virgil, which for me rivals in its emotional power the devastating moment when Virgil disappears from the poem, gives us a key to understanding why the classics and education all together still matter.
Statius offers three reasons why Virgil determined the course of his life. First, Virgil’s moral teaching. It occurred to me-does Goldilocks get her name from Aristotle’s golden mean? That’s probably the one thing you’ll remember from this video..
In any case, avarice or hoarding money and prodigality or spending too much money are the opposite side of the virtue of generosity. Statius says that he was prodigal spender until he read Virgil’s line about the cursed hunger for gold that drives men’s hearts. So classical wisdom, transmitted through Virgil’s poetry, set Statius on the right moral path.
Second, Virgil’s poetic skill. Statius fell in love with Virgil’s writing because he was lured in by the muse’s sweetness. And this by the way is something that was perfectly obvious to the ancients but seems to have been forgotten in our age of sarcastic tweets and online vitriol. If you want someone to drink the draft of your doctrine, that is to change their mind and heart, you need smear the cup with honey. Statius internalized Virgil’s moral because it was nestled in a compelling story presented in beautiful and persuasive language. And then he followed in Virgil’s footsteps to become a poet himself.
Third, and this is the strange and miraculous part, Virgil’s proto-Christianity. Other ancient philosophers could have taught Statius to be a good man. Some like Horace or Lucretius might also have taught him to be a good poet. But Virgil is utterly unique. He alone formed one of the strongest bridges between Athens and Jerusalem. How? Statius will tell us in the words he spoke to Virgil, ‘You were the one who first invited me to sip of the springs and the grottos Parnassus, and the you lighted me the way to God, you did as one upon the road at night who holds a torch that those behind may see though he himself unaided by the light saying from heaven descends a newborn son, the mourning of humanity returns and a new age of justice has begun, a poet you made me and a Christian too.”
The quotation is from fourth Eclogue, his earliest work, which channels Jewish prophecy in predicting the birth of a miraculous child who will usher in a new golden age, one that looks very much like the vision of God’s holy mountain in Isaiah 11. Readers since ancient times have argued endlessly about who the child is meant to be. Several historical Roman figures have been proposed but what we can say with certainty is that the child’s identity was and remains a mystery.
As I have argued in a recent article, it’s actually quite likely that Virgil has read the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew bible. In the Eclogue itself Virgil refers to the Zebulon oracles, the third of which channels Jewish prophetic texts but however it happened late and medieval Christians saw the fourth Eclogue as a prophecy of Christ appearing in a pagan text. It was evidence that God could reveal His divine truth through a classical mouthpiece as well as a Christian one. That was a major part of what gave them permission to appropriate the whole tradition of classical learning as their own, just as the Israelites took the Egyptians treasure with them on their desert journey.
It was partly through classical authors that God prepared my heart too, to receive the truth of Christian revelation. For me it was the ravishing beauty of Homer’s poetry that caused me to fall in love with the classics. But as I became ever more deeply immersed in the world into which Christ was born I developed a deep intuitive sense that what happened 2000 years ago is real and alive and matters. When C.S. Lewis, my spiritual father, pointed out that the gospels were a text utterly like any other in the ancient world, not fictional but true, I knew he was right.
Virgil, I thank you, Statius and Dante and so many others have thanked you for allowing God to speak through you even without your understanding. You did as one upon the road at night who holds a torch that those behind may see though he himself is unaided by the light. Your own works end in darkness. Dying two decades before the birth of Christ you could not have known that the true day was about to break. Nor could you have suspected that your words would help to steer the entire course of civilization. We too have no idea what surprises God has in store or how He will use our words, our actions, our sufferings without any conscious intent on our part, to bring His divine comedy to its gloriously satisfying conclusion.
Thanks for the 100 Days Project!
MAJOR VIRGIL SPOILERS!
This is a wise and beautiful presentation. Finding the light of Christ through literature - I can relate to that.