Divine Comedy, by my sister's Boyfriend, and me.

This Weekend, I had to write an essay about Dante's Divine Comedy. It took me till about 10 minutes ago, because I was at my cousin's house. While I was there, though, I asked my sister's boyfriend, Joe, to write it for me. He took it to mean that I was supposed to write an essay about the comedy troupe here at BYU, also called Divine Comedy. Here is his introduction that he wrote in about 2 minutes.
Despite higher life expectancy, better educational opportunities, and a better overall quality of life in the United States, depression is increasing each decade over the past 80 years. It would seem that people were less stressed, considering themselves to be generally happy people; however, more than a quarter of Americans today consider themselves to be moderately depressed. Professor John Ashcroft from the University of Texas has been studying the effects of laughing on mental and physical health. In numerous studies, he has found that laughing improves not only a persons psychological health, but they are less likely to become sick, less likely to be injured, and have a higher life expectancy. A recent statistic said that nearly 30 percent of all entering Freshmen consider themselves to by at least mildly depressed. Here at BYU, Divine Comedy provides much needed opportunity to laugh and increase in health.

And here is the essay that I wrote:

Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, is the story of a man’s descent into the inferno, and ascent of purgatory. In his descent, he meets all sorts of sinners, who have committed a multiplicity of different sins. Because of these sins, they are punished with a sin that take the sin to an ironic extreme. Interestingly, the sins that are punished are tiered, somewhat like in Latter-day Saint theology.

In Mormon theology, there are some sins that are considered worse than others. There is the sin of denying the Holy Ghost, which is unpardonable, the sin of murder, which is unforgivable, and sexual sin, which is “hard to forgive.” Dante’s sins come in three groups, those against self, or incontinence, those of violence against others, and those against God, or Fraud. The LDS theology corresponds to Dante’s, to a large degree. Sinning against the Holy Ghost is sinning against God, Murder is violence against others, and Dante’s circles of incontinence include those who commit adultery.

The Circle of Violence itself, the seventh circle, is subdivided into these same types of divisions, violence against self, others, and God. This Circle contains those who commit murder, those who commit suicide, and those who blaspheme the name of God. Murder has already been mentioned as an LDS sin. Suicide is a tough subject for LDS. We don’t want to judge, but we know that the taking of one’s own life is bad, though there may be extenuating circumstances. Blaspheming has lost a lot of its seriousness in the eyes of most people, LDS included, because it happens so often in the movies, though it is still considered a serious sin.

LDS Theology includes the vicarious ordinances for those who never had the opportunity to receive baptism and other ordinances. The first circle of Dante’s Inferno is Limbo, where the virtuous, but unbaptized go. Without the ordinances that LDS faithful do for those who never received them, they remain in a state similar to Dante’s Limbo. Dante’s residents of Limbo are in a sort of paradise, but constantly grieve the fact that they can never see God. LDS theology is more forgiving on that concept. Those that are unbaptized can be baptized, if someone will be baptized in their place. Still, however, LDS talk about Spirit Paradise and Spirit Prison, similarly to Dante’s Limbo.

The Second Circle of the Inferno, which is where lust is punished, punishes its inhabitants by having them fly about in a whirlwind, always together, but hating each other. LDS theology teaches little of how punishment actually works, only that those who do not repent will have to suffer the pains that Christ suffered. LDS teaching focuses more on the Purgatorio-like aspects of punishment, than on the Inferno punishments. A major difference in Dantean and LDS theology comes at this point, however. Dante tends to think that bodies are evil, where as LDS theology states that bodies are an essential part of our temporal and eternal salvation.

LDS sacred texts often state, very specifically, that God has a body of flesh and bones, like man’s. Dante’s God, when he reaches him at the end of Paradiso, has no body. “I saw the Great Light shine into three circles in three clear colors bound in one same space; the first seemed to reflect the next like rainbow on rainbow, and the third was like a flame equally breathed forth by the other two.” This is Dante’s description of God and his glory. Joseph Smith, the founder of the LDS church, said this about his “first vision” of the Godhead. “When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” Both accounts state that the glory of God defies all description, but Joseph Smith’s account specifically states that they have bodies. Also, by stating that “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” his account distinguishes between the members of the Godhead, rather than a large amount of light, that is mostly indistinguishable.

The sections of the bottom circle of Dante’s Inferno are named for different types of Fraudulent sinners. The first section is called Caina, after Cain, who slew his brother Abel. LDS teaching also states that what Cain did was terrible, but primarily because it was fraudulent, but because he formed a combination with the devil, to be able to murder and get gain.

The final section of the Inferno is called Judecca, named for Judas Iscariot, who sold out Jesus Christ for 20 pieces of silver. Here, there are four traitors. Satan himself, Judas Iscariot, who is being eaten by one of Satan’s faces, Brutus and Cassius, being eaten by the other two faces. LDS tradition would mostly agree with the punishment doled out for Judas. He is considered a Son of Perdition, like unto Satan himself. Satan, however, committed his crime before he could obtain a body, so his punishment is to have no body, and to suffer thereby, without any of God’s Glory to sustain him.

An important aspect of this last circle of the Inferno is that it is frozen. For Dante, it is the exact opposite of everything that God is. For him, God is Immaterial, so Satan is the most Material there can be, so gravity is at its strongest there. God is Light, so Satan is Darkness. God is Warmth, so Satan is cold, and causes the lake of this circle to be perpetually frozen by his attempts to escape. LDS theology teaches a very similar idea, with a switcheroo on the Material/Immaterial. God has a Body, Satan has none. God is still light, and Satan is still dark.

LDS theology teaches many things that are in line with Dante’s beliefs. It is important for LDS to understand Dante’s beliefs, because they are influential, and in common with most Christian faiths.

What do you think? Pretty good? I sure hope so, since its like 5% of my grade. I've got to write another essay similar by midnight tonight... about The Prince, by Machiavelli. oy.