Purgatorio, Canto 11 with Dr. Adam Johnson

[@lorimorrison6539]

Oh how I loved this!!! Thank you so so much!!!! I love this picture of freedom, Jesus desiring our flight, not constriction! Oh to be able to rejoice in another's joys and goods more than my own!!! Thank you so very much for such an artful, rich teaching of the beautiful God we have!!!

[@treborketorm]

Dr. Johnson, thank you for your wonderful insights. I relish the thought of a purgatorial metamorphosis from worm to butterfly and the freedom to be able to admit my own folly and shed the pretense of my ego and all burdens of the flesh. In the Inferno there is nothing but bitter regret and excuses and blame but in Purgatorio there is only the will to reach enlightenment "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam," for the greater glory of God. Amen!

[@johndunham9236]

Thank you, Dr. Johnson, for helping us get introduced to Dante on Pride. I remember having sessions with you fondly, and how you were able to guide us through texts so well. Once again, you have knocked on the wooden table well and seen the core of this Canto. Dante's liturgy of the Lord's Prayer is stunning and reflective. How souls are getting unbent and freed to fly in the fullness of their nature is very classical in theology. I learn more and more about a Mediaeval view of Purgatory (something more foreign to prots). It is quite beautiful and new. What we long for will be the Good, True, and Beautiful, and how freeing it will be when we can.

[@stephanielangdon8155]

WOW.We are finally getting to some beautiful and deep pictures. Thank you Dr Johnson for bringing this canto to a clear understanding for me. The Lewis reference was incredibly helpful. I was able to see clearly the beauty in killing off the sin that we have been holding dearly close and why it needs to be boulders holding us down so we do not elevate ourselves too high. I am looking forward to reading this Canto and seeing how God speaks to me through you and through Dante.

[@PatMcAnn]

An excellent analysis. One of my favorites so far!

[@sarahflynn924]

This was so lovely and heartfelt, Adam! Thank you for using first person, has not been done in the lectures yet that I can recall, made the work real and relatable. Well done.

[@torifreeman993]

A powerful, memorable close! Thank you for this discussion.

[@carolynfouse9863]

Excellent! Wonderful insights. Thank you.

[@shannonberkebile5004]

This was so helpful. What beautiful insights!

[@patcamerino5456]

Canto 11: Dante and Virgil hear a chanted paraphrase of the “Our Father” making it into a prayer of humility that elaborates on the necessity of God’s grace for forgiveness as well as a repentant’s need to forgive others. The elaboration includes God’s role in the prevention of temptations towards evil. Dante, however, differs significantly from Aquinas who maintained that the souls in Purgatory could not offer prayerful assistance to the living. The trudging sinners pray for a safe haven for themselves as well as for others. The Pilgrims request the direct assistance of the prideful in order to locate stairs which might accommodate an easier passage to the next Cornice. One sinner is Omberto, whose pride of his family’s heritage caused him to exclude consideration of others. They also encounter Oderesi, a renowned illustrator, who took pride in being superior to all other artists, rather than having appropriate self-esteem whereby he recognizes God had helped him accomplish the best he could with his gifted work. They also meet Salvani of Sienna who took great pride in the power he held over his city. Self-esteem of what one can do because of God’s help is appropriate. However, believing that what one accomplishes is due entirely to one’s own efforts is deemed to be the sin of pride that requires purgation through humility and a full acknowledgment that one is a creature and not the creator.

[@tomlabooks3263]

Great insights! And Michael Jordan is the PERFECT example for this terrace.

[@petersmall1574]

I agree, but I also flinched a bit at this example, because Jordan is still alive, as is, of course, Lebron James. So for that reason the use of Jordan as an example of a past master of his craft acknowledging the superiority of a successor struck me as somehow, I don't know, a premature and perhaps even presumptuous assertion as to the present state of the soul of a man who remains, like the rest of us mortals, a work in progress. On the other hand, I wonder how, assuming it were brought to his attention, professor Johnson's commentary would strike Michael Jordan. Would it give him cause to reflect and perhaps achieve the glimpse of humility necessary to allow him to welcome the trials of Purgatory?

[@tomlabooks3263]

@@petersmall1574 Your comment is technically correct, although it might lack a bit of common sense. Unless you haven’t seen any interview with Jordan in the last few years, you must know that he is the embodiment of Pride to a degree that not even a nuclear cataclysmic event might help him understand the meaning of humility. Sure, let’s pray for his “work in progress” soul, keeping in mind that MANY camels will whizz through many needles’ eyes before a billionaire like him will enter into the Kingdom of God.

[@billhagen5050]

Indeed, what the souls are undergoing does appear to be a punishment. But someone (Virgil?) somewhere says that punishment is punishment only if one’s mind is set against it (as in the Inferno). If one accedes to what is imposed and willingly undergoes the ordeal, we should consider it an act of discipline, both a chastising of the self and a training to rid oneself from the very inclination to commit a particular sin. It’s like the intense and even painful workouts of a serious athlete so she can excel in a particular sport.

[@allegrasmick4719]

Fabulous meditation. Pride transformed by humility. Thank you. We are beginning to glimpse the final goal.

[@iamfortytwo7446]

Very interesting commentary. I like the phrase / idea of unbending the soul. Thank you.

[@philryan3540]

Must we have sports metaphors in a discussion of Dante?

[@williamgiovinazzo8523]

I got the grieving part down pretty good, not so much on the laughing. Having said that, this was a really well-done lecture. Well thought out.

[@meg05john06xav07]

Shave hippie

[@5kidsNeverDullMoment]

It seems Dante, the author, in his own writing sees his own prideful nature in this Canto. In Dante’s Inferno he’d write the reader side notes about how good his own writing was. Now, it seems to be hitting him that he may fit here in Purgatory.

[@lyon3511]

Good stuff!

[@guywilliams2306]

Nicely done. Thank you.

[@tgold3311]

Excellent contemporary analogy with Michael Jordan and Lebron James, although they weren't rivals. Larry Bird was probably a bigger rival from the same era. Great message about humility and praising others instead of ourselves.

[@nephthyswolfe7835]

Excellent.

[@hopeowsley2572]

Nicely done!

[@ritaperez1348]

Best canto yet!