Abstract
This article offers a reflection upon The Brothers Karamazov, interpreted as a theological and philosophical contribution to the debate over humanity’s practical relationship to suffering and vulnerability. The relationship is practical insofar as the questions with which Dostoevsky struggles all relate to human agency: How should we live in the continual presence of suffering? The article reconstructs a theology of suffering in The Brothers Karamazov as a form of anti-theodicy. Further, the theology of suffering in The Brothers Karamazov is counterposed to Leo Tolstoy’s novella Hadji Murat. How does Dostoevsky’s “theology of suffering” fare in a comparison with one of the most perceptive portraits of power and powerlessness in world literature? In the proposed reading of the story, the elderly Tolstoy seeks to challenge the Christian theology that views responsibility for suffering and injustice primarily as an individual struggle with the metaphysical conditions of existence.
Highlights
We humans are vulnerable, subjected to the same suffering that we often visit upon others
The relationship is practical insofar as the questions with which Dostoevsky struggles all relate to human agency: How should we live in the continual presence of suffering? How should a Christian live in a world in which innocent people and animals are tormented while evil people live contentedly? My aim is to reconstruct a theology of suffering in The Brothers Karamazov as a way of reflecting upon its potential and limitations
This essay will counterpose the theology of suffering in The Brothers Karamazov to Leo Tolstoy’s posthumously published novella Hadji Murat
Summary
We humans are vulnerable, subjected to the same suffering that we often visit upon others. Let us consider the answer given by Mitya, the eldest Karamazov brother, to the question of how a Christian should live in a world in which innocent people suffer.
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