HEAVEN HELL & JUDGMENT SPRING 2026
ENG 375/ AHI 318
Mondays, 6:30 - 9:10
P.M., virtual
SUNY Distinguished Teaching
Professor Diane Christian, engdc@buffalo.edu
Office Hours: Ro be
determined & by appointment
Teaching Assistants:
Emma Duncan eduncan@bufflo.edu.
Office hours: TBD and by appointment.
Caal Wesley cwesley@buffalo.edu, Office hours: TBD
and by appointment.
Content:
Heaven Hell & Judgment considers great verbal and visual texts of eternal
reward and punishment—images and stories of heaven, hell, and moral judgment
from ancient Sumer and Egypt to modern film. We will study the Sumerian goddess
Inanna’s descent to the great below, the Egyptian weighing of the soul,
classical underworlds in Homer and Plato and Virgil, blessed places and
judgment scenes. We’ll also consider Hebrew and Christian biblical texts,
especially the Apocalypse or Revelation, medieval illuminations,
Romanesque churches, Dante’s Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso,
Signorelli’s and Michelangelo’s and Bosch’s paintings of last things, Milton’s Paradise
Lost and Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven & Hell. We’ll
end with the classic film A Matter of
Life and Death, released in America as Stairway
to Heaven.
Books:
Required:
The Holy Bible. You may use any text. The
King James version is online as are many others including the Revised Standard
Version (easier to read).[Excerpts from The Koran will be posted on Brightspace]
The Divine Comedy, Dante, tr. Mandelbaum. Knopf Everyman. You may use other translations,
also available online.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Blake. Timeless Publications, 2022, and available online.
Recommended: The
History of Hell. Turner. Harcourt
Brace, paper.
Heaven:
A History. McDannell & Lang.
Yale, paper.
Inanna. Wolkstein & Kramer. Harper, paper.
Images: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~engdc
To access the images on line,
use a web browser (e.g. Explorer, Netscape, Safari) and go to the above
location. Click “Images” Hit ENTER. You should then be able to access the
images which are arranged by week and outlined on the ON-LINE IMAGES SCHEDULE.
To enlarge an image, click on it.
Examinations: Quizzes
will be posted on Brightspace on March 1, and May 1, and will be due on March 7 and May 7. Each counts for 30% of your grade. Study guides will be posted for
each.
Paper: A
paper analyzing the film A Matter of Life
and Death (American release title Stairway
to Heaven) and bringing to bear all the material of the course will be due
by May 14 .
The paper comprises 40% of
your grade. Directions will be posted.
Class Listserv: An email list (eng375-sp26-list) willl bring you the zoom invitations to class every Sunday as well as texts that will also be posted on Brightspace. Put this address in your address book so it doesn't go to junk
HEAVEN HELL & JUDGMENT
Readings marked with *** will be posted on Brightspace.
Jan 26 ***“The
Descent of Inanna from the Great Above to the Great Below” (Sumer)
***“The
Feather of Maat” (Egypt) [texts distributed first class also]
Feb 2 Bible texts:
From the Hebrew Bible (called the Old
Testament in the Christian Bible) read Genesis
chapters
1-3, Ecclesiastes,
and Daniel chapters 7 - 12.
From the Christian New Testament read The Gospel According to Matthew and the Apocalypse (also called Revelation). From The Koran read the excerpts posted on UBB Learns.
Feb 9 **Homer. The Odyssey, tr. Fitzgerald. Books XI, XII, XXIV
***Virgil. The Aeneid, tr. Fitzgerald. Book VI
***Plato and Greek Underworld References as
excerpted
Feb 16 Apocalypse
(Revelation), and medieval Apocalypse illuminations.
Feb 23 Medieval Last Judgments, biblical texts
and church sculpture and painting.
***Texts Matthew 13:36-50; Matthew 25; Mark 9:36-49;
Luke 19-21; 1Corinthians 15; 1Thessalonians 4:15-17; Hebrews 1 - 5.
Mar 2 ***Visions
of Tondal (text) andtext and images online on Brightspace
Medieval visions before Dante. Images
influencing and influenced by Dante.
Mar 9 Dante’s Inferno
Mar 16 No class
Mar 23 Dante’s Purgatorio
Mar 30 Dante’s Paradiso.
Apr 6 Signorelli’s paintings of the Last
Things. Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment”
Apr 13 Hieronymus Bosch’s “Last Judgment”
***Milton, Paradise Lost, Books I - III, X, and selections.
Apr 20 Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven & Hell. Use the book text for images or
online at http://www/blakearchive.org/blake/
Apr 27 No images. Film A Matter of Life and Death (American release title Stairway to Heaven).
May 4 Summary.
May 14 Paper
Due. Post on Brightspace. No extensions.