The Rise and Decline of the "Great Synthesis"
             During the middle ages, a unified Christian culture was developing rapidly, building a medieval view that was supported by a combination of one church, one human history, and one theology. This view was symbolized in Dante's Inferno and gives a mirrored look at how God's plan was structured in its ethical, political, and theological ideas that those of this time believed in so strongly. Two centuries later, a period of revolution took place led by a man named Martin Luther. Luther took issue with the traditional medieval view and this culminated into a new theology of salvation that was based on faith, rather than the performance of good works and grace (Fiero, 476).
             During medieval life, the belief in the "divine promise of deliverance and eternal bliss" brought about unification amongst Christians in a single theology and Church (Fiero, 105). This is reflected in Dante's Inferno in a symbolic manner that creates an imaginative correspondence between a soul's sin on Earth and the punishment he or she receives in Hell (French). This idea provides many of Dante's moments of symbolic power and imagery that also serves to illuminate a major theme of Dante's: the perfection of God's justice. The design of the poem serves to reinforce this point in the plot by progressing from degrees of sin that correspond to various regions of Hell. His moral system prioritizes not happiness or harmony on Earth, but rather the will of God in Heaven. He also animates a major theme that gives warning that our actions in this life
             bring unavoidable consequences in the next. This is explained at the Gate of Hell which states, "through me you enter into the city of woes, through me you enter into eternal pain, through me you enter the population of loss" (Inferno). This portrayal is a counterpart to Heaven, which Virgil
             ...