Dante and the Practice of Humility : A Theological Commentary on the Divine Comedy

Examines humility as theologically central to the Comedy. Canto by canto, Teubner demonstrates the many means by which the poem's theology responds to contemporary readers' concerns. Readers will benefit richly from this gracefully written companion, which also introduces theologians to recent scholarship exploring Dante's religious thought.

In this book, Rachel Teubner offers an exploration of humility in Dante's Divine Comedy, arguing that the poem is an ascetical exercise concerned with training its author gradually in the practice of humility, rather than being a reflection of authorial hubris. A contribution to recent scholarship that considers the poem to be a work of self-examination, her volume investigates its scriptural, literary, and liturgical sources, also offering fresh feminist perspectives on its theological challenges. Teubner demonstrates how the poetry of the Comedy is theologically significant, focusing especially on the poem's definition of humility as ethically and artistically meaningful. Interrogating the text canto by canto, she also reveals how contemporary tools of literary analysis can offer new insights into its meaning. Undergraduate and novice readers will benefit from this companion, just as theologians and scholars of medieval religion will be introduced to a growing body of scholarship exploring Dante's religious thought.