Introduction: A Comedy For Non-Christians
Chapter
Abstract
The poem that Dante called Comedy was first entitled The Divine Comedy more than two centuries after the poet’s death, on the title page of an edition printed in Venice in 1555. The adjective “divine” was added by the Venetian publisher more as a way to praise the poem’s seemingly superhuman artistry than as an indicator of its content and concern. But the title The Divine Comedy, which we have come to mistake for the original, determines for us a certain horizon of expectations: we think that Dante must be primarily interested in disclosing the facts concerning God and divine things, that his poem in its essence involves the presentation of religious—specifically, Christian—truth.
Keywords
Moral Virtue Thirteenth Century Active Intellect Human Soul Religious Pluralism
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Introduction: A Comedy for Non-Christians
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© Gregory B. Stone 2006