Fyodor Dostoevsky???

[deckard1]

Hi,

First post.

I studied a bit of Dostoevsky's literary works in college and am starting to get back into his writings once again.

I just had a simple question for starters...

How religious was Dostoevsky? Particularly, towards the end of his life...or literary career?

Thanks. :smile5:

[JCamilo]

Religion and Christ are two of the most relevant elements of his work. He was orthodox, very skeptical of Catholic Church, seems to dislike organized religion and critical to atheism. He claimed to be deist, at one point or another.

[Danik 2016]

In his novels one can behold characters struggling for essential Christian values, specially love, compassion and humility.

[Jackson Richardson]

He was very enthusiastic about the Russian Orthodox Church, and would have regarded the Roman Catholic Church as a perversion of true catholic and orthodox Christianity.

[Jackson Richardson]

seems to dislike organized religion and critical to atheism. He certainly approved of sacramental, ritual and monastic religion and you can't have them without some sort of organisation.

[OrphanPip]

I think if you're reading something like the Brother's Karamazov it becomes apparently how deeply religious Dostoevsky was. He may have grappled with a certain Kierkegaardian existential examination of faith in his novels, but from what I've read he seems to have been a traditional Russian Orthodox believer.

[Jackson Richardson]

I suspect his Russian-ness lead him to his Orthodoxy and belief in Russia's unique spiritual vocation.

[JCamilo]

He was raised as orthodox, if anyuthing, he moved away from more traditional pratice to a philosophical/individual pratice (close to Kierkegaard as Pip suggests) but his nationalism kept him closer to Orthodox faith. His late pratice had to do more the search for the invidual pursuit of faith, having Christ as a model, than the sacred part of religion. He was certainly not radical to any faith, having studied a little (and professed admiration) is muslims. I would say he was deeply spiritual to avoid any misunderstanding about his pratice (As Dostoievisky was a man that sometimes was very complicated).