I’ve said on here before that the Inklings are having a moment. Yet another example of this is the publication of The Way of Dante: Going through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven with C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Charles Williams by Richard Hughes Gibson.
Now of course this is technically a book about Dante–and maybe he’s having a moment too. If he isn’t he should be. But as the ridiculously long subtitle tells us, it’s not just a book about Dante. It’s a book about the exploration of Dante by Lewis, Sayers, and Williams. All four authors whom Christians should spend more time with (but especially Dante).
Let me give you a long review in a short form: you should read this book. It is interesting, well-written, and a good guide to two great authors and two mediocre authors. (I won’t tell you who the mediocre authors are, because that would be mean, but I’ll tell you the two great ones are Dante and Lewis. In case there’s anyone I haven’t infuriated with that statement, let me get the rest of you: Lewis is a great nonfiction writer, as when he’s writing about Dante. He’s only a mediocre writer when he’s writing fiction. Feel free to yell in the comments.)
What is especially interesting is to read Dante (and the others too) as an Evangelical Protestant. It can be done, and should be! If we read, as I think Dante intended, the Inferno to be a warning, Purgatorio to be a guide through life in this world, and Paradiso to be a vision of the glory and joy that we aspire to, they are excellent. And if we read good translations of them (avoid Longfellow and Pinski, embrace Esolen, Musa or Ciardi) then Dante’s books are a superb blessing to the Christian.
Even better is reading Dante in conversation with brilliant folks like Dorothy Sayers, Charles Williams, and C.S. Lewis. Which means that Richard Gibson has done us a great service by giving us this introduction to their engagement with Dante. This book should be on the shelf of anyone who wants to dive deeper into the the thought of the Inklings.
Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog), and teaches Political Science, Philosophy, and History in Southwest Missouri.
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