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An Analogy of Dante’s View on Religion and the Western Religion

In The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Dante condemns the sins of Simony and Avarice, drawing a strong connection between these sins and the church’s role in the social, political, and moral order of his times. Simony is the selling or buying of something spiritual or spiritually related, while Avarice is the extreme greed for wealth, material gain, status or power.^[1] Using church’s positions for personal monetary gain leads to punishment by fire. The dead recognize that they were sinning with and know when they will be joining them in hell. Greed is also heavily condemned, for it is in vain. Thereby, this paper seeks to give an analogy between the idea of institutionalized religion in the United States and the idea of the established church as seen in the Cantos studied so far.

In Cantos 19, Virgil and Dante are on the rim of the third pit of Circle VIII for those guilty of Simony. The Simonists are upside-down in round holes the size of baptismal fonts because they used their church positions for personal monetary gain.^[2] With the rest of the body upside down in the hole, the feet and legs of a spirit protrude from each of these holes. The soles of their feet are on fire, “And as aflame on oily things is wont to move along the outer surface only; so likewise was it there from heels to toes.”^[3] In the case of the institutionalized religion in the U.S., the church is taught not to sin, for sin’s consequences are dire. The wages of sin is death, and its price is eternal damnation in the pit of everlasting fire. As shown in the Cantos, the sole of the spirit’s feet is on fire. However, Cantos 19 only portray the feet of the spirit being on fire, yet the institutionalized religion in the U.S. portrays eternal damnation in the pit of fire where the whole body burns and not just one body part. In the Hebrew Bible, we see the rich man in hell begging father Abram to pity him enough to allow Lazarus to dip even the tip of his finger in water and quench his tongue, for he was in agony in the fire.^[4] Thus, punishment by fire awaits the Simonists.

Also, in Canto 19, we see a soul (Nicholas III) mistaking Dante for Boniface, which surprises him because he is there earlier than expected. The soul tells Dante that he was a pope while he was on earth after Dante tells him he is mistaken. “I’m not the one, I’m not the one thou thinkest!”^[5] We see other popes in the cracks in the rock, for they also committed the same sin of misusing their church positions for personal monetary gain. The soul also explains that when the next sinful pope, Boniface, joins the club, he will be pushed down further into the stone.^[6] Therefore, Canto 19 portrays the idea that the souls in damnation know the people to expect to join them, and they know who will join them next and when. On the other hand, the U.S.’s institutionalized religion teaches Christians that no one knows the hour of their death except for God Almighty. The Bible also depicts the idea that after death, we will be familiar with one another as the Apostle Paul declared, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully even as I am fully known.”^[7] Thereby, the dead recognize each other in the afterlife, whether sinners or saints.

From Cantos 7, we see Dante getting his first glance at Circle IV, which happens to be the circle of the wasters (spendthrifts) and hoarders (misers). The mythological god of riches and wealth (Plutus) watches over these wasters and hoarders in Satan’s kingdom.^[8] Like in the other circles, this circle’s sinners face an eternal punishment fitting their sins. The wasters and hoarders constantly conflict with each other’s ideologies, never getting a winner just as they never agreed on earth as their punishment. The hoarders wonder why the wasters waste and the wasters marvel at why the hoarders hoard, “Why keepest thou?” and “Wherefore throw away?”^[9] At the same time, from the Bible, in the institutionalized religion in the U.S., Jesus warned his disciples to be wary and stay away from every form of greed for life is not all about plenty of one’s possession.^[10] The Bible goes further to demonstrate a lesson on greed through Jesus’ parable of a certain rich man who produced abundance and told himself to eat, drink, and be merry for he will have plenty for many years.^[11] That very night God told him He would take his life and no longer own what he had accumulated. Therefore, anyone who is not rich towards God yet accumulates treasures of the world for himself will face the same fate.

Dante condemns the sins of Simony and Avarice in The Divine Comedy: Inferno. He draws a strong connection between these sins and the church’s role in his times’ social, political, and moral order. In Cantos 19, Virgil and Dante depict the evil of using church positions for personal monetary gain and its consequence of punishment by fire and engraved in rocks beneath. He gives an example of the popes who used their church positions for personal monetary gain facing punishment. In Cantos 7, Dante demonstrates Hoarders and Wasters indulging in greed. Similarly, from the institutionalized religion in the U.S., we see that Jesus warned his disciples to be wary and stay away from every form of greed, for life is not all about plenty of one’s possession. In the Bible, the “wages of sin is death,” and its price is eternal damnation in the pit of everlasting fire. Also, people still recognize each other even after death.