World-renowned Dante scholar Ronald B. Herzman spoke to students in Christian Spirituality classes at St. Bonaventure University on Monday, April 17.

 

Herzman, emeritus Distinguished Teaching Professor of English at the State University of New York at Geneseo, spoke on the subject of Dante’s Catholic and Franciscan spirituality as expressed in his masterpiece, “The Divine Comedy.”

 

“Dante’s art synthesizes so many important elements of pre-modern Catholic spirituality. He also points toward the modern world with his vernacularity and international outlook. However, the complexity of his corpus has kept me from introducing it to my students,” said Dr. Aaron Gies, assistant professor in the Department of Theology and Franciscan Studies at St. Bonaventure.

 

“Professor Herzman has the perfect skill set to do this. He’s consolidating a lot of what students have learned in the rest of the course, and, of course, I learn so much whenever I get the chance to hear Ron speak,” Gies added.

 

Herzman has held fellowships and guest lectureships at Georgetown, the University of Chicago, Fordham and other colleges and universities. The author of numerous books and articles, he is perhaps best known for his lecture series, “Dante’s Divine Comedy,” published by The Great Courses in 2001. 

 

He has also produced Great Courses on “Francis of Assisi,” “St. Augustine’s Confessions,” and “Discovering the Middle Ages.” 

 

Gies expressed the gratitude of St. Bonaventure’s Department of Theology & Franciscan Studies to the university’s Visiting Scholars Committee for its support of the program.

 

 

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.