Inferno Canto 3 with Dr. Fred Sanders

Join us as we read canto 3 of the Inferno with Dr. Fred Sanders of the Torrey Honors College at Biola University.
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

[@hvmkay9911]

My family and I are thankful for the time you have put into these. Thank you all.

[@tomm5256]

Can I get all these folks to come to my place and walk me through all my classics?

[@salsabilbhuiyan8482]

Wow! what a masterpiece. This just elevated what my lecturer said.

[@bakebr]

Wow. I’m learning so much from these short videos! When I started reading the first canto I thought it would be impossible to continue reading. I’m reading a translation in a second language. I’ve been reading first, watch video, read again and with every new exposure a new layer of meaning is added. My understanding might be shallow compared to people who have read other classics, but it’s so precious to me!

[@YOLOjst1s]

Hey man I'm on the same track as u You're not alone and I hope by now you have fully understand the lore and is satisfied by this beautiful poem

[@rickloan8251]

Me too

[@williamgiovinazzo8523]

This was excellent. It bears multiple viewings. I liked it.

[@JediCheng]

Thanks so much for your insight into Canto 3, Dr. Sanders!

[@treborketorm]

Date the Poet and Dante the Pilgrim. Dante the Teacher and Dante the Student. Juxtaposition. I love it. Thanks!

[@elizabethbrink3761]

This is really helpful, thank you! I have not read any of the ancient Classics, so I am learning a lot.

[@cashcowcw123]

Feeling blessed to have access to these wonderful insights. I'm so grateful to everyone involved in this project.

[@JC-kr8xu]

Excellent. Absolutely excellent. I will be watching this again.

[@Gustolfo]

Aquinas and Agustin appear, for me, in a unexpected way. Great surprise. Thanks.

[@dhroseberry]

This is great! I love it!!! Thanks for making this possible.

[@sandygoodwin8225]

i got a bit lost by the "formless matter and matterless form...." hopefully that will become clearer as we get farther into this? thanks! it has been awesome so far! clearly a lot of time , effort and coordination has gone into this project!

[@sandygoodwin8225]

@@bethbilynskyj162 OMG. Thanks, Beth for the recommendations.... I never studied philosophy or metaphysics and just watched the first video you recommended....my brain does not think like that....! Thus I may have a more superficial experience of Dante....but I am ok with that! I will check out the other two recommendations in the morning when i am fresh....thanks again!

[@jimcampanini107]

Very rich in thought and wonderfully insightful. I am truly enjoying this project and the disseminators of this classic literature. Grazie!

[@helenvaline891]

Great insights and analogies!!

[@joelreinhardt2084]

Brilliant piece of commentary!

[@carriebecker5531]

Thank you so much for this. I am loving it. It is a needed tonic against what feels disordered in life right now.

[@beatrixscudeler]

Very interesting and so clearly explained!

[@casimirkukielka3842]

Loving this, thanks

[@brendantannam499]

That was very helpful. Thank you.

[@davidcalderisi]

I wonder if Dr. Sanders might shed some light on a thing I find most puzzling in Canto 3 and that is the plight of the first souls we encounter having entered the Dismal Gates. Their agonies are intense, and their treatment at the hands of the terrible Charon is beyond cruel, and yet we're told that their offense is that they were neither good nor evil; that they have done nothing particularly bad in their lives, but neither have they done anything particularly good. The impression I have from Virgil's description is that they were what might be called today --- wishy-washy. Do I have that wrong? If not, d unduloesn't their punishment seem unduly harsh?

[@sharonherbitter4523]

These are “the neutrals,” those who never took a side. (Remember the reference in Revelation 3 to those who were neither not nor cold?) In this “ante-Inferno” reside angels and humans, forced to follow the whirling banner (antithetical to what they did in life, where they stood off to one side and followed nothing) that exhibits nothing. Their punishment may seem harsh, but remember - Dante took a side and was exiled from Florence for life. His contempt for “wishy-washy” beings might be more understandable in that context.

[@cocoaswann2095]

Agree with Sharon's reply. I would only add that the antechamber is for those who know right from wrong, but Refuse to take a stand either way for entirely selfish reasons. I'm reminded of one of the lyrics from a Rush song: "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."

[@hamdinger7145]

He cool guy

[@the_Falcon_fall]

Would someone be so kind as to explain the minute 6:30? I tried to look in Genesis, in Plato and in the confessions of Saint Augustine book X. I find it difficult to understand.

[@Mark-co8gt]

"Changing the words 'Baby, baby, baby' to 'Jesus, Jesus, Jesus'." Deliberate South Park reference? 😅

[@csapienza001]

"pagan myth yields to christian instruction"

[@richcassone]

Styx and Acheron are not the same river.

[@jennifermelton2465]

Formless matter and matterless form? WHAT???????????

[@martha1spur]

Read the first chapter of Genesis

[@andrewkelm1484]

Dark matter and visible matter?

[@Nyarlazul]

It refers to Platonism. According to Plato, all matter is originally a formless blob, with almost no features. For matter to become something else, it needs an idea or form (a blueprint, to say something) to be infused on it. And ideas/forms without matter only exist in the thought. So, formless matter = matter without idea, and matterless form = ideas without matter. Or that is as I remember from my Philosophy classes, anyone feel free to correct me.

[@martha1spur]

@@Nyarlazul Of course it is platonic, but the crux here is the Christian theological principle: God breathed life into the formlessness of precreation, the abyss as Moses calls it in Genesis. He created the cosmos ex nihilo. God ordered the universe. Also, the learned doctor points to Genesis.