St. Anselm Institute - Past Public Lectures

 

Our 2008-09 Distinguished Public Speaker Lecture series at the University of Virginia  continued on November 5, when Anthony Esolen, Professor of classical, medieval, and Renaissance literature in the Department of English at Providence College, visited Minor Hall. 

 

Like Virgil, Esolen skillfully--and with a good bit of humor, animation, poetry,and Italian erudition -- led the audience through a rich philosophical theological  treatise on human autonomy and the nature of freedom.But the journey traveled  was not framed by an arid logic; rather, it began with consideration of something close to all of us --a great tree on Jefferson's Lawn--before turning to  the classic literary terrain Esolen knows quite well, if not by heart: Dante's Divine Comedy.  Plunging quickly into -- as he put it -- the "sludge hole," Esolen directed his audience towards the most treacherous, icy and speechless scenes of Dante's Inferno, then past the condemned though admirable guardian Cato, across (with song and hope) to the Island-Mountain of the Purgatorio, where we met several individuals, including the great Italian poet Sordello who warmly welcomes Dante, a fellow compatriot from Mantua.  Ultimately, like all great guides, Esolen ended the journey at its promised ascent, a deeper admiration and gratitude for  the Beatific Vision of the Paradiso.

Read more ...