The Beauty of Holiness and the Holiness of Beauty: Dante, Giotto, Francis

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

In what sense, can we call Dante a “theologian”? According to medieval theology, what is the role of “beauty” in the promotion of “holiness”? This course will consider these questions through reading a series of medieval theological discussions of holiness and beauty (especially as found in Boethius, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the Franciscan tradition). We will also explore how such ideas were translated into spirituality (Franciscan), the visual arts (Giotto), and poetry (Dante). Against such a background, we can come to appreciate why modern theologians are “re-categorizing” Dante, making arguments that we should read him not as a poet but as a theologian.