[Mad Dawg]

If you really want (a great experience and) a pretty decent explanation and portrayal of what we think about purgatory, I cannot recommend enough the Dorothy Sayers translation of Purgatorio by Dante. Her notes and essays are very clear.

This is not a sneaky attempt to inflict Catholic propaganda on anyone. Sayers was Church of England. It's an attempt to provide a source with as good an introduction to the whole way of thinking as one is likely to encounter.

And if I hook even one person into reading the entire Commedia I have done a good thing. Lewis (also Church of England) thought it the greatest poem ever written. So do I.

[CynicalBear]

There is a huge danger in reading secular opinions of scriptural teachings. I don’t even read Lewis for that reason.