I recently finished Dante’s Divine Comedy. The trilogy of books about the 3 potential destinations for those entering the afterlife: Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Honestly, much of it wasn’t very compelling. He was working from a Catholic worldview that I do not share so large portions, especially the second book, I did not agree with or have categories for. But what I realized while reading is that the general understanding, caricature, or picture of hell that would be described by the average person is founded by the imagination of Dante.
This is important because the primary document that should drive our understanding of hell is Scripture. The pages of the Bible. And the Bible, especially Jesus, talks about hell a great deal. He uses metaphors that paint it as an undesirable place, a place of torment and difficulty, a place for judgment of those who reject God and the angels who have rebelled against him. The eternal aspects are there as well.
But the fascinating piece for me is that our general imagination about hell is informed not by the words of Jesus or the language of Scripture but by the imagination of Dante.
If we were to talk about hell you would likely, reflexively, think about demons with pitchforks incessantly torturing the damned. That is the imagination of Dante. We reference “special places in hell for people like that”. That is Dante and his 7 levels. We allude to specific punishments attached to our conduct while living. Much of Dante’s inferno is description of specific sins being attached to specific punishments in grotesquely unique and disturbing ways.
And because our imaginations are informed by Dante, and not the scriptures, We come to the Bible with Dante’s scenes dancing in our heads. And I know for many they come to the Bible assuming Dante and when they don’t like Dante they unfortunately reject the Bible as well.
Who informs your imagination? Where do you get the pictures that animate the ideas of the world? This is worth sifting and pondering. Because often they come from sources that are part of our culture, western civilization in this case, and inform the very language and way of thinking about realities but are not actually authoritative sources. Dante took bits of Bible and extrapolated out a 400 page epic poem that stands next to Homer and Virgil for its craft. Interesting to be sure, but it is not a description of reality.
Evaluate the primary sources if you want to understand and don’t allow derivative works to inform your opinion. We desperately need well founded and energetic imaginations that encourage us, warn us, and give us hope about what is true. Soak in the Bible so it informs your imagination.