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Universal History: The Surprising Irish Origin of Purgatory - with Richard

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Jonathan Pageau   Aug 26th, 2024

Description

In this episode of the Universal History podcast with Richard Rohlin, we discuss the surprising Irish origin of the medieval notion of purgatory, why it's understandable that purgatory is part of the medieval experience, its relevance to our lives today, and how Dante presents purgatory in a new, more optimistic way in his Divine Comedy.


Timestamps: 

00:00 - Coming up

01:11 - Intro music

01:37 - Introduction

04:23 - Ireland in the medieval period

13:31 - History for the Irish

20:15 - A lyrical approach

23:51 - Magical realism

29:37 - Ireland's rigour

37:34 - The popular medieval belief of Purgatory

40:25 - The Irish Penitentials

43:03 - Purification after death

50:20 - Avoid purgatory

51:06 - Descriptions of purgatory

54:57 - The problem statement

01:07:03 - Dante's purgatory

01:09:04 - The best defense for purgatory

01:17:15 - Bringing it home