For Dante in the fourteenth century, the question was not “Who am I?” but “Who is God?” and “How can I grow in Christlikeness?” The Divine Comedy describes one man’s efforts to know God, but it is also the poet’s way of describing the spiritual journey that everyone must take. In the process of knowing God, Dante learns more and more about himself, about his sins, and the ways God has blessed him. But self-knowledge is a byproduct of knowing God; it is not the goal. The goal is to know God and become like him.
