Also, a text which was well known in the Middle Ages is the Gospel of
Nicodemus, which details Christ's harrowing of hell in the time between the
crucifixion and the resurrection. Christ descends to hell, breaks open the
gates, lets in the light, and lets out the patriarchs led by Adam and Eve.
Quite a rousing depiction.
Best regards,
Clint
_____________________
Dr. Clinton Atchley
Department of English
Box 7652
Henderson State University
Arkadelphia, AR 71999
870.230.5276
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-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Fanning [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 7:09 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Dante's Inferno
The classical biblical source is 1 Peter 3.18-20: "For Christ also died for
sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring
us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in
which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not
obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building
of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through
water.
Steve Fanning
At 04:14 AM 09/05/2000 -0700, you wrote:
>Divine Comedy
>Dante mentions more than once throughout the commedia
>that Jesus descended into hell to free the characters
>of the old testament after he was crucified. This
>belief is not popular with catholics or christians, my
>question is: which references did Dante use to back up
>this statement since it is not on the bible?
>any info about this will be greatly appriciated.
> Ari
Steven Fanning
Department of History (M/C 198)
913 University Hall
University of Illinois at Chicago
601 S. Morgan St.
Chicago, IL 60607-7109
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