During a conversation today, the concept of "outer darkness" was brought up. The person I was talking to is a neverMo and said, "Oh, like Dante's 7th level of Hell." Now I've read Dante's Inferno, and I'm not quite sure how she was connecting that. And in the back of my brain I know its not quite right, even after I reread the highlights of the levels.

If you had to compare Outer Darkness to a level of the Inferno, which would it be?

I haven't read Dante's Inferno in a few years, but I remember having similar feelings. Not necessarily specific to the tiers in Hell, just in general how things are ranked in order of severity. It reminded me the "degrees of glory" or whatever in heaven actually.

I would guess she is referring to the inner ring of the seventh circle of hell which is reserved for blasphemy. I was taught that the only way to be cast into outer darkness was to directly deny the Holy Spirit -- blasphemy.