COURSE NUMBER:
COURSE TITLE:
TERM:
CDLN-HACS W13
Dante’s Inferno
Jan 12 – Feb 14, 2015
INSTITUTION:
INSTRUCTOR CONTACT:
TIME COMMITMENT:
Holy Apostles College &
Seminary
Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP
[email protected]
3 hours per week
1. COURSE DESCRIPTION
Published in late 1314, the Inferno traces a pilgrim’s journey from the Dark Wood of despair to the source of all sin and
iniquity. Dante the pilgrim descends to the bottom of Hell at the prompting of Virgil, who had been sent by Dante’s beloved
Beatrice at the request of St. Lucia who was herself prompted by St. Mary, the Mother of God. The goal was to bring Dante
through a recognition of sin to enable him to renounce it in the following canticle, the Purgatorio and enter into the
mind of God in the Paradiso. Dante gets through hell in about a 24-hour walk; we pilgrims will spend a little over a month
in the journey.
2. ENVISIONED OUTCOME
 Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the cosmological realities of the post-Aquinine
Church, of the historical and political realities of the 14th-century Church, and of the literary accomplishment of the
last great medieval writer who confronted the greatest taxonomy of all time.
3. COURSE SCHEDULE Postings are due on the day of the canto according to the calendar below (e.g., if a student
is going to reflect on Canto 10 of the Inferno, that reflection can only be posted on January 21).
You will need to listen to the audio lectures available in the course site for each canto on a schedule as follows:
Jan 12 – Feb 14, 2015
Jan 11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Inferno,
Canto 1
Canto 2
Canto 3
Canto 4
Canto 5
Canto 6
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Canto 7
Canto 8
Canto 9
Canto 10
Canto 11
Canto 12
Canto 13
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Canto 14
Canto 15
Canto 16
Canto 17
Canto 18
Canto 19
Canto 20
Feb 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Canto 21
Canto 22
Canto 23
Canto 24
Canto 25
Canto 26
Canto 27
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Canto 28
Canto 29
Canto 30
Canto 31
Canto 32
Canto 33
Canto 34
*Image courtesy of Jeffrey Monseau, Digital Collections Intern, Mt. Holyoke College, who scanned them from G. Borghi’s "La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri,” 1844.
4. COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Participants are asked to provide five short responses to any of the video reflections and matching cantos over the course
of their journey through the Inferno. For a good time in hell this winter, post the first reflection on canto 1, a second
reflection in upper hell (circles 1 through 6), a third reflection in middle hell (circle 7), a fourth reflection in the first part of
lower hell (circle 8) and a final reflection in the second part of lower hell (circle 9).
It is expected that participants will interact with and respond to each other during their journey. At the end of the journey,
participants will be required to respond to a quiz to demonstrate their knowledge and comprehension of the main
elements of the Inferno. As with all MOOCs, this experience will not be instructor-led outside of your access to the video
reflections. It will, however, be regularly monitored and questions concerning it may be emailed to the developer, Dr.
Sebastian Mahfood, OP, at [email protected].
5. RESOURCES:
The video lectures for the MOOC will be made available within the course site and are also available online at
http://www.kenrickparish.com/dante and on Dr. Mahfood’s YouTube channel (go to YouTube and search for ‘sebastian
mahfood’)
The text for the course is Ciardi's translation, which can be found on
Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Comedy-Inferno-PurgatorioParadiso/dp/0451208633 or through the online student store at
http://astore.amazon.com/holapocolsemb-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=56
While the preferred text to use is the Ciardi translation, a number of suitable
translations of each canto are also embedded within the course site.
The MOOC Developer
Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, is a Lay Dominican of the St. Louis Chapter
of the Holy Rosary in the Province of St. Albert the Great.
Dr. Mahfood is Vice-President of Administration at Holy Apostles College &
Seminary in Cromwell, CT. He is also director of the Catholic Distance
Learning Network of the National Catholic Educational Association, associate
editor of Seminary Journal, and associate director of the Parresia Project, an
organization that pursues greater mutuality among international priests and
their American pastors and parishes. He serves on the board of directors of the
Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology and the board
of trustees of Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, MO.
Dr. Mahfood holds a master’s in comparative literature from the University of
Texas at Arlington, a master’s in philosophy and a master’s in theology from
Holy Apostles College & Seminary, a master’s of educational technology from
Webster University, and a doctorate in postcolonial literature and theory from
Saint Louis University. Among his publications include his book Radical
Eschatologies: Embracing the Eschaton in the works of Ngugi wa Thiong’o,
Nuruddin Farah, and Ayi Kwei Armah.
Dr. Mahfood lives in St. Louis with his wife, Dr. Stephanie Mahfood, and
children, Alexander and Eva Ruth.
Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, O.P.