Apocalypse Even In Eden, Part Two: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 109 - 160

In the last episode, we talked through some of the "superficial" factors in the grand apocalyptic vision in Eden: its structure, some diction cues, even a few rifts or cracks in its flow.

In this episode, let's turn to the much thornier issue of what it all means. A consensus has developed over the seven hundred years of commentary. That reading (or interpretation) now dominates the Anglo-American, rationalist outlooks on the vision.

But might there be more? And might that reading be prone to mistakes or gaffes it cannot accommodate?

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the second of two episodes on the complicated vision of the apocalypse that ends PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII.

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Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:38] Once again, my English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, lines 109 - 160. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[05:28] The now-standard interpretation of the vision as a sweet of Christian church history up until Dante's day and the so-called "Avignon captivity" of the papacy.

[13:10] Questions and problems that arise in the standard interpretation. These may show us that the vision is more layered than a rationalist interpretation would consider.

[16:28] Two external sources that may impinge on this vision: the prophecy of Daniel 7:7 and the visionary writings of the Radical Franciscans.

[19:27] My reading of the vision as the collapse of good governance following the departure of the proper balance of church and state.

[21:47] Two final questions: 1) Does Dante cause the collapse of the vision? And 2) should the vision be interpreted in such a rational, one-for-one way?