Dostoevsk'y Theology

Alfred Einstein stated: "Dostoevsky gives me more than any other thinker."1 Nicholas Berdyaev was professor of philosophy at the University of Moscow until he was expelled by the Communist regime in 1922. Berdyaev testified that Dostoevsky "stirred and lifted up my soul more than any other writer or philosopher has done…when I turned to Jesus Christ for the first time.2 Some would assert that either The Brothers Karamazov [pronounced kare-uh-MAHT-tsov] or Crime and Punishment is …

…own life, so he probably read his NT through this experiential grid. But experience will not necessarily be prescriptive for exegesis. On this salient subject Dostoevsky is considerably less than a student of the NT could wish. However, just as we can profitably read the monumental works of the Arian John Milton or sing the hymns of another Arian—Isaac Watts, so a Christian does well to wrestle with the world-class novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky.