Was Dostoevsky an Atheist?

[AuntShecky]

It certainly is within the original poster's rights to speculate on an author's religious leanings, but would knowing whether Dostoyevski was an atheist change the work in any way? In general we're supposed to focus not so much on the artist but on the work; otherwise, the only things we would be reading would be autobiographies.

I just finished re-reading "Tradition and Individual Talent," and even though Eliot was talking about poetry, he argued that the artist's own personal history is irrelevant. And D.H. Lawrence likewise supposedly said: "Do not trust the teller; trust the tale."

[greendingy]

good suggestion!!!!!

[Piksi90]

To understand his faith,one must be of an Orthodox believe,for a beginning.The other thing everyone should take in consideration is that The Brothers Karamazov was intended to be only first of the three parts of a gigantic work - The Life of a Great Sinner,in a way similar to Dantes Comedia.First book was to show the malace of human kind,and failed not to do it;and that's why character of Aljosa seems weak,uncompleted in the book,his strenght was to be revealed later,and there everyone would sense power of his truly religious thought(which is simple in its theories,yet doubthless)

[blazeofglory]

To understand his faith,one must be of an Orthodox believe,for a beginning.The other thing everyone should take in consideration is that The Brothers Karamazov was intended to be only first of the three parts of a gigantic work - The Life of a Great Sinner,in a way similar to Dantes Comedia.First book was to show the malace of human kind,and failed not to do it;and that's why character of Aljosa seems weak,uncompleted in the book,his strenght was to be revealed later,and there everyone would sense power of his truly religious thought(which is simple in its theories,yet doubthless)

You maybe right. I really became highly confused and could not land with any particular thought. While I immensely enjoyed the work of this great writer with his insuperably ambitious work, I could not settle myself when it came to his philosophical proposition

[theDrunkPianist]

I think like all young ideological rebels, Dostoevsky saw himself as part of the reactionary force of his time. Against the orthodox views that conform everyone to christian values and beliefs. But I think later in his work, he tends to go back to be a conservative and claim God as true. Because of fear of death? Who knows, but in the end he thought that a conservative way of lifestyle will guide the nation. So from a radical liberal he became a conservative, and with the same step moved towards the position of a believer. "Notes from the Underground" kinda hints at it, the perspective he writes in some way is an ideological battle between his younger self and this maturing Dostoevsky.

[ShoutGrace]

I've posted this before. This is something I read in an introduction to "The Brothers Karamazov":

“Dostoevsky’s own faith derives its strength from the fact that he has himself passed through atheism. Commenting on the critics of The Brothers Karamazov, he wrote contemptuously,

‘The dolts have ridiculed my obscurantism and the reactionary character of my faith. These fools could not even conceive so strong a denial of God as the one to which I gave expression . . . The whole book is an answer to that . . . You might search Europe in vain for so powerful an expression of atheism. Thus it is not like a child that I believe in Christ and confess Him. My hosanna has come forth from the very crucible of doubt.’”

I think it has been covered in the thread already, but he was a believer.

I think the question of whether that matters, or to what degree it should influence our reading of his works (if at all), is a different question. It's an interesting one.

I just finished re-reading "Tradition and Individual Talent," and even though Eliot was talking about poetry, he argued that the artist's own personal history is irrelevant. And D.H. Lawrence likewise supposedly said: "Do not trust the teller; trust the tale."

I was taught the maxims "there is no author," and "there is no authorial intent" during my brief time in college.

Not sure whether I agree with that, although I find it interesting, and I see merit there.

[Theunderground]

Having completed a great majoity of dostoevskys' work now i will say i think clearly he was an atheist,in that he didnt believe in an active deity. But i will qualify that by saying that dostoevsky understood as well as Nietzsche that he could make the idea iof christ come true by his own faith and that of others. and i will say that you will have to search all the realms of history to find a guy with the passion and realism of faith displayed by fyodor. 'we will take god underground'. 'we have to redeem those in the graves'
Tolstoy and dostoevsky are two of the greatest christians in my opinion,greater than christ and all the monks...

[WymanChanning]

Hi

It seems this post is a bit of out of date, but nevertheless I will reply as followings now:

One minute ago I finished reading TBK, which is my first try of his novels, but nevertheless the question whether Dostoevsky is an Atheist has been haunted in my mind for quite a while. And at the end, I believe he believes in God. Ivan is a non-believer, his motto is "every thing is permited", because he refuses the existence of God and the life beyond grave, and therefore he believes nobody will be punished for any sin he has done in this world. His father, the old Karamazov's religious view is same as Ivan. The fates of this two people in TBK are miserable. Ivan is frightened to death by the complete nonsense insultion of Smerdyaskov. Why is he so frightened? It is precisely because he does not believe the existence of God and therefore God can not protect him. The old Karamazov was murdered by Smerdyaskov.
Smerdyaskov's motive of murder is revenge and hatred. He is jealous of his brothers and hates his father. But the question whether Smerdyaskov believes in God still puzzles me. The Elder, in my opinion, is not a believer. He shares the same view of religion, of God as the Grand Inquisitor. The author does not give a honorable funeral to him whose body decays very quickly and there is a smell of decay in the room where his body has been lied. All those non-believers do not have a good ending, while the believers all have a good ending. Although Dmitry had been accused of patricide and is convicted, but nevertheless he wins the love of his beloved lady and is going to start a new life and to complete a process of regeneration. Alyosha is a true believer who believes in God not the preaches of those Grand Inquisitor, believes in love not wealth and vanity, and he has actually surpassed his teacher the Elder. It seems that Dostoevsky deliberately assigns happy endings to believers and tragedy endings to non-believers. From this observation, I guess Dostoevsky himself is not a Atheist, and he believes in God and all the good things in this world, which is quite similar to Alyosha.

[JCamilo]

As it was mentioned before, when young he was dealing with socialism and atheism. He was sent to jail, almost executed, etc. This changed him deeply. He became more critical of socialism (the rebelion seemed to him to be not productive and ingenous) and in other hand, lack of faith seemed to him an individual misleading.
This personal changes in Dostoievisky life is reflected on the increasing quality of his work - now he had in his own mind as much voices as he wanted to express. His criticism was not just towards atheism but to romantic naivity, Rome church (the Great inquisitor bith was a towards it more than lack of faith), Russian "colonial" mindset, etc. This include a deep critic towards faith as not being hipocrisy, but an act of self, which you can see on idealistic characters like Aliocha or Myshikin.

[alex77]

I remember a Dostoevsky quote that was something along the lines of "it is not as a child that I believe in Christ. my hosanna was born of a furnace of doubt." I think his writing makes it clear that he considered himself to be a Christian, but I think he wrestled with the concept, and couldn't quite come to complete terms with his faith. I think he was somewhat of an Ivan, that held his character of Alyosha as what he longed for spiritually. I also think that, like Tolstoy, he held the Christian concepts from the sermon on the mount, and an attempt at a brotherhood of man at a higher level that he did his actual beief in God. He also wrote somewhat extensively of his distaste for the nihilist concepts that he believed were pervading Russia from the West, and believed in simplicity, and the goodness of the Russian Orthodox church.