Theologians as Persons in Dante's Commedia

This thesis examines the roles of four major theologians in Dante’s Commedia: Augustine (354-430), Gregory the Great (c. 540-604), Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), and Thomas Aquinas (1225-1275), and asks what their appearances as persons in the poem can tell us about Dante’s conception of theology. Dante chooses to represent theology through a series of personal encounters with individuals and individual theologians: the project asks how he transforms or incorporates these perceptions in the Commedia. My claim is that the character of Beatrice should be understood as a theologian within the poem, even though her claim to such status relies not on an established historical authority—on written treatises, sermons, works or reputation—but purely on the nature of the particular person which Dante constructed in his poetic career.