Dante and the Practice of Humility - A Theological Commentary on the Divine Comedy

In this book, Rachel Teubner offers an exploration of humility in Dante's Divine Comedy, arguing that the poem is an ascetical exercise concerned with training its author gradually in the practice of humility, rather than being a reflection of authorial hubris. A contribution to recent scholarship that considers the poem to be a work of self-examination, her volume investigates its scriptural, literary, and liturgical sources, also offering fresh feminist perspectives on its theological challenges. Teubner demonstrates how the poetry of the Comedy is theologically significant, focusing especially on the poem's definition of humility as ethically and artistically meaningful. Interrogating the text canto by canto, she also reveals how contemporary tools of literary analysis can offer new insights into its meaning. Undergraduate and novice readers will benefit from this companion, just as theologians and scholars of medieval religion will be introduced to a growing body of scholarship exploring Dante's religious thought.

List of contents

Part I. Introduction. Dante and the Practice of Humility: A Theological Commentary on the Divine Comedy: 1. Superbia as sin in inferno; 2. Humility as difficult devotion; 3. Art as humble practice; 4. Humility as love's condition; 5. Humility as capacity in paradiso; Conclusion; Bibliography; Acknowledgments.

About the author

Rachel K. Teubner is a Research Fellow in Medieval and Early Modern Studies at Australian Catholic University's Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry. She has held fellowships at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, and the Institute for Critical Inquiry in Berlin. Her current research explores genre, gender and theology in women's lyric writings during the long Reformation.

Product details

• Authors: Rachel K. Teubner, Rachel K. (Australian Catholic University Teubner
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 31.07.2025
• EAN: 9781009315371
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0931537-1
• No. of pages: 366
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, RELIGION / Theology, LITERARY CRITICISM / European / Italian, LITERARY CRITICISM / Renaissance, Italy, Theology, CE period up to c 1500, Literary studies: poetry & poets, Literary studies: general, Italian, Renaissance style, 16th century, c 1500 to c 1599, c 1500 to c 1600, Literary studies: poetry and poets, C 500 CE To C 1000 CE, Medieval style, For higher / tertiary / university education, Literary studies: c 1400 to c 1600