Editing Divine Comedy (section)

=== Christian ===
The ''Divine Comedy''{{'}}s language is often derived from the phraseology of the [[Vulgate]]. This was the only translation of the Bible Dante had access to, as it was one the vast majority of [[scribe]]s were willing to copy during the Middle Ages. This includes five hundred or so direct quotes and references Dante derives from the Bible (or his memory of it). Dante also treats the Bible as a final authority on any matter, including on subjects scripture only approaches allegorically.<ref>Moore, Edward. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wKzwr0pRzVkC ''Studies in Dante, First Series: Scripture and Classical Authors in Dante''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129165445/https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/wKzwr0pRzVkC?hl=en&gbpv=1|date=29 November 2022}}, Oxford: Clarendon, 1969 [1896], pp. 4, 8, 47–48.</ref>

The ''Divine Comedy'' is also a product of [[Scholasticism]], especially as expressed by St. Thomas Aquinas.<ref>Toynbee, Paget. ''[https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/enh149b2446413.pdf Dictionary of Dante A Dictionary of the works of Dante] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525004059/https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/enh149b2446413.pdf|date=25 May 2021}}'', p. 532.</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Paradiso of Dante Alighieri |url=https://archive.org/details/paradisoofdantea00dantrich |first=Dante |last=Alighieri |editor=Philip Henry Wicksteed, Herman Oelsner |edition=fifth |publisher=J.M. Dent and Company |year=1904 |page=[https://archive.org/details/paradisoofdantea00dantrich/page/126 126]}}</ref> This influence is most pronounced in the ''Paradiso'', where the text's portrayals of God, the beatific vision, and [[substantial form]]s all align with scholastic doctrine.<ref>Commentary to Paradiso, I.1–12 and I.96–112 by John S. Carroll, ''Paradiso: A Verse Translation'' (New York: Anchor Books, 2007), as found on Dante Lab, http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614052100/http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu/ |date=14 June 2021 }}.</ref> It is also in the ''Paradiso'' that Aquinas and fellow scholastic St. Bonaventure appear as characters, introducing Dante to all of Heaven's wisest souls. Consequently, the ''Divine Comedy'' has been called "the ''Summa'' in verse".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-AQTAAAAIAAJ&q=%22the+Summa+in+verse%22 |title=Fordham College Monthly |date=December 1921 |publisher=Fordham University |volume=XL |page=76 |language=en-us |access-date=12 December 2015 |archive-date=4 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804131041/https://books.google.com/books?id=-AQTAAAAIAAJ&q=%22the+Summa+in+verse%22 |url-status=live}}</ref> Despite all this, there are issues on which Dante diverges from the scholastic doctrine, such as in his unbridled praise for poetry.<ref>Commentary to Paradiso, XXXII.31–32 by Robert and Jean Hollander, ''Paradiso: A Verse Translation'' (New York: Anchor Books, 2007), as found on Dante Lab, http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614052100/http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu/ |date=14 June 2021 }}.</ref> 

The [[Apocalypse of Peter]] is one of the earliest examples of a Christian-Jewish [[katabasis]], a genre of explicit depictions of heaven and hell. Later works inspired by it include the [[Apocalypse of Thomas]] in the 2nd–4th century, and more importantly, the [[Apocalypse of Paul]] in the 4th century. Despite a lack of "official" approval, the Apocalypse of Paul would go on to be popular for centuries, possibly due to its popularity among the medieval monks that copied and preserved manuscripts in the turbulent centuries following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The ''Divine Comedy'' belongs to the same genre<ref name="nta2">{{cite book |last=Maurer |first=Christian |editor-last=Schneemelcher |editor-first=Wilhelm |editor-link=Wilhelm Schneemelcher |translator-last1=Wilson |translator-first1=Robert McLachlan |translator-link1=R. McL. Wilson |date=1965 |orig-date=1964 |title=New Testament Apocrypha, Volume Two: Writings Relating to the Apostles; Apocalypses and Related Subjects |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Westminster Press |pages=663–668}}</ref> and was influenced by the Apocalypse of Paul.<ref name="silverstein">{{cite book |last=Silverstein |first=Theodore |author-link=Theodore Silverstein |url= |title=Visio Sancti Pauli: The History of the Apocalypse in Latin, Together with Nine Texts |date=1935 |publisher=Christophers |isbn= |location=London |pages=3–5; 91 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Maier2007">{{cite journal |last1=Maier |first1=Harry O. |date=2007 |title=Review of Die Visio Pauli: Wege und Wandlungen einer orientalischen Apokryphe im lateinischen Mittelalter, unter Einschluß der alttschechischen und deutschsprachigen Textzeugen |journal=Speculum |language=de |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=1000–1002 |doi=10.1017/S0038713400011647 |jstor=20466112}}</ref>