WI Dante Aligheri was canonized as a prophet?

The Divine Comedy, specifically the Inferno, was hugely influential in shaping Christian views of the afterlife for centuries to come. I'm wondering, what if Dante became a super-influential Joseph Smith-esque prophet of a new branch of Christianity, and The Divine Comedy became recognized as an actual, divinely-revealed Third Testament? Would the crusades play out differently? Would we see a different Renaissance directly inspired by Dante's works?
 
Well, the Divine Comedy was written well after the Crusades, no almost no impact in any case.

If he is canonized as a 'prophet', and in a manner similar to Joseph Smith, that would imply a breakaway sect as as far as I know Catholicism didn't have extrabiblical prophets. In that case, I don't really see it getting much traction. The Catholic Church probably bans the book and suppresses the sect, and world literature is poorer for it.
 
Well, the Divine Comedy was written well after the Crusades, no almost no impact in any case.

If he is canonized as a 'prophet', and in a manner similar to Joseph Smith, that would imply a breakaway sect as as far as I know Catholicism didn't have extrabiblical prophets. In that case, I don't really see it getting much traction. The Catholic Church probably bans the book and suppresses the sect, and world literature is poorer for it.

I think op probabl meant "what if the catholic church recognizes Inferno as canon, making it the official version of hell"
 
Perhaps this new semi-heretical sect sees Dante not quite as a prophet, but possibly something of a new apostle?
 
The content is too controversial to be made official Canon. Dante put several popes in his inferno, amongst them Boniface VIII and Celestine V(canonized in 1313). The book is just too political and too much contra papal authorithy for it's age to be officialy adopted.
 

Skallagrim

Banned
Welllllll... considering that Dante was (albeit with considerable nuance) defending the position of the Emperor vis-à-vis the Pope, there are avenues for his work to gain traction. His theological views being adopted as true by a break-off group of faithful is possible. If they also accept his De Monarchia as the correct view of the investiture controversy, it is possible that the complex political situation of the time (interregnum without a Holy Roman Emperor being crowned; subsequent avignon Papacy) can end up bolstering just such a pro-imperal sect.

Suppose that instead of Henry VII being crowned Emperor (the first in a long time) by Pope Clement V (the first Avignon Pope), the rise of the "Dante sect" leads to an ATL claimant to the imperial title who uses the establishment of the Avignon Papacy as "proof" that the Seat of Saint Peter is vacant, proclaims himself Emperor, declares the theological and legal beliefs of Dante to be the correct ones, and claims that it is his mission to restore the true Papacy. (By which he means: to install his own preferred candidate in Rome, based on the understanding that as of now, the Pope will no longer have any temporal authority, and the primacy of temporal power in all Christendom lies with the Holy Roman Emperor.)

It's not the most likely scenario, but I can see it happening.
 
Welllllll... considering that Dante was (albeit with considerable nuance) defending the position of the Emperor vis-à-vis the Pope, there are avenues for his work to gain traction. His theological views being adopted as true by a break-off group of faithful is possible. If they also accept his De Monarchia as the correct view of the investiture controversy, it is possible that the complex political situation of the time (interregnum without a Holy Roman Emperor being crowned; subsequent avignon Papacy) can end up bolstering just such a pro-imperal sect.

Suppose that instead of Henry VII being crowned Emperor (the first in a long time) by Pope Clement V (the first Avignon Pope), the rise of the "Dante sect" leads to an ATL claimant to the imperial title who uses the establishment of the Avignon Papacy as "proof" that the Seat of Saint Peter is vacant, proclaims himself Emperor, declares the theological and legal beliefs of Dante to be the correct ones, and claims that it is his mission to restore the true Papacy. (By which he means: to install his own preferred candidate in Rome, based on the understanding that as of now, the Pope will no longer have any temporal authority, and the primacy of temporal power in all Christendom lies with the Holy Roman Emperor.)

It's not the most likely scenario, but I can see it happening.

I have the Divine Comedy with me, and the idea of an 'Dante Sect' and the HRE going 'Screw you, we got our church/we're the true church and I'm the Pope now' is too good to past up.
 
The content is too controversial to be made official Canon. Dante put several popes in his inferno, amongst them Boniface VIII and Celestine V(canonized in 1313). The book is just too political and too much contra papal authorithy for it's age to be officialy adopted.

Not to mention, IIRC, he compared the Papacy to a harlot.
 
The content is too controversial to be made official Canon. Dante put several popes in his inferno, amongst them Boniface VIII and Celestine V(canonized in 1313). The book is just too political and too much contra papal authorithy for it's age to be officialy adopted.

Celestine V is not named in the text however. Many interpreters see a reference to him in Inferno but it is very questioned (among other reasons, because Celestine had been canonized by the time the Inferno was circulated) and personally I quite doubt that. However, you are right. The Commedia is clearly far too controversial to be acceptable canon of the Catholic Church, though there are critics who think that Dante intended to do exactly that - to write a Third Testament.
Had he succeeded in being read like that by some, it would be suppressed, of course.
 
Welllllll... considering that Dante was (albeit with considerable nuance) defending the position of the Emperor vis-à-vis the Pope, there are avenues for his work to gain traction. His theological views being adopted as true by a break-off group of faithful is possible. If they also accept his De Monarchia as the correct view of the investiture controversy, it is possible that the complex political situation of the time (interregnum without a Holy Roman Emperor being crowned; subsequent avignon Papacy) can end up bolstering just such a pro-imperal sect.

Suppose that instead of Henry VII being crowned Emperor (the first in a long time) by Pope Clement V (the first Avignon Pope), the rise of the "Dante sect" leads to an ATL claimant to the imperial title who uses the establishment of the Avignon Papacy as "proof" that the Seat of Saint Peter is vacant, proclaims himself Emperor, declares the theological and legal beliefs of Dante to be the correct ones, and claims that it is his mission to restore the true Papacy. (By which he means: to install his own preferred candidate in Rome, based on the understanding that as of now, the Pope will no longer have any temporal authority, and the primacy of temporal power in all Christendom lies with the Holy Roman Emperor.)

It's not the most likely scenario, but I can see it happening.

It may happen, but also it would very likely fail. The ripple effects would interesting, I agree. Low probability scenario but a good one.
 
The Divine Comedy, specifically the Inferno, was hugely influential in shaping Christian views of the afterlife for centuries to come.

but prophet of what?
and, in any case, it is the exact opposite: Dante in La Divina Commedia has taken up in a literary way/form what is already a topic of faith (see the Novissimi), and not vice versa, that is, no truths of faith have been created from Dante's work!
 
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