LE3 .A278 2007

2007

Brackney, William

Acadia University

Master of Arts

Masters

Theology

Acadia Divinity College

In this thesis, the argument is made that Dante Alighieri, the renowned medieval poet, prophetically called for reform in the Church. Having briefly reviewed the current literature that bears on this question, the thesis provides a brief biography of Dante Alighieri. It then portrays the state of the papacy in Dante's lifetime and indicates his response to the corruption he observed. To this end, the thesis makes extensive use of Dante's major work, ' The Divine Comedy', also known by the original title, 'Di Commedia '. Two of the other significant challenges that were faced by the Western Church at the end of the Medieval Era are then discussed. These challenges are the changes in language usage that made the Latin Mass and Latin Vulgate Bible alien to many European Christians, as well as the growth in power and learning among the laity. The thesis indicates that Dante responded to these two issues more positively than did the hierarchy of the Church. The thesis then undertakes to define the prophetic role, in accordance with guidelines laid down in the discipline of Biblical Studies, and compares Dante's life and writings with this complex definition. The thesis then concludes that Dante was right in believing that he possessed the prophetic gift, and that awareness of that can open new fields of scholarly exploration of his work.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:2820