# Introduction to Dante's Purgatorio with Dr. Jason Baxter

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ascend-the-great-books-podcast-6733379/introduction-to-dante-s-purgatorio-with-dr-jason-baxter
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ascend-the-great-books-podcast-6733379/introduction-to-dante-s-purgatorio-with-dr-jason-baxter.md
Podcast: [Ascend - The Great Books Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/ascend-the-great-books-podcast-6733379)
Published: 2026-02-10T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: http://mcidfrxn.podcastwebsites.com/episodes/introduction-to-dantes-purgatorio-with-dr-jason-baxter
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/953f634c-21c9-41e4-b5f3-4782fb810c8e.mp3
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Duration seconds: 3803

## Resource

Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dr. Jason Baxter and Dcn. Harrison Garlick come together to introduce Dante's Purgatorio and Dr. Baxter's new translation! We are reading Dante's Purgatorio for Lent. Join us! Visit thegreatbookspodcast.com for our reading schedule! Check out our LIBRARY of written guides to the great books! DISCOUNT: Check out Dr. Jason Baxter's website and enter "Ascend" to receive **20%** off the Purgatorio audiobook read by Dr. Baxter ! Check out Dr. Baxter's Substack article on his new translation. And thank you to the Center of Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College for promoting this reading of the Purgatorio! Dr. Baxter first describes the Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College as a fellowship program (Angelico Fellows) that immerses students in beauty across the arts, music, literature, and theology—through concerts, museums, and pilgrimages—to foster interiority and the conviction that “beauty can save the world.” The conversation then contrasts Purgatorio with the Inferno : while the latter is dark, lurid, and focused on judgment, Purgatorio is a place of hope, mercy, transformation, and “eternal New Year’s resolutions,” where repentant souls engage in spiritual exercises to purify their tarnished mirrors, learn authentic love and prayer, and prepare for Paradise. Baxter likens the shift to moving from heavy metal to Schubert, emphasizing greenness, brightness, and unexpected mercy. Baxter explains that his translation began as a personal quest for mastery—going word-by-word to internalize Dante like memorizing a piano piece—but evolved into a philosophy capturing Dante’s “fugue” of style: ascending, prolix syntax with lofty classical allusions layered over humble, earthy words that reflect Franciscan humility and in…

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