Christ, Truth and Man in Poem "The Grand Inquisitor"

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Author: Lazar Milentijevic
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PhD candidate, professor assistant at the Philosophical faculty at the University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad (Serbia). E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Milentijevic L. Christ, Truth and Man in Poem “The Grand Inquisitor” // Dostoevsky and World Culture. 2018. No 4. Pp. 14-39.
Issue: 2018 no. 4
Department: HERMENEUTICS. SLOW READING
Pages: 14-39
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2018-3-14-39
UDK: 82+821.161.1+11
BBK: 83+83.3(2=411.2)+86.2
Keywords: Dostoevsky, The Great Inquisitor, dark sides, Christ, truth, man.
Abstract: Analyzing the text through the prism of religious and philosophical thought, the article wants to demonstrate the reasons why the poem about the Great Inquisitor has been recognized as one of the most important ideological cruxes, in which religious, philosophical, and ethical postulates of Dostoevsky’s mature works intertwine. The article discusses and highlights three main concepts of the poem; a confirmation of the importance of these postulates can be found in the preparatory material for the “Brothers Karamazov”. The article raises the question of different levels of truth without which the universality of religion is lost and, as an alternative, a list of religious dogmas is proposed. The aporia, declared by the Great Inquisitor, does not only reveal dark sides of Christianity but deepens them further, forcing us thereby to reconsider the relationship within the Christ-truth-man triad. Dostoevsky forges the image of a man who judges the eternal Truth, armed with earthly dialectics and demanding the answer for all disorder. The question, however, remains opened – whether the final compromise and healing of the soul is possible or not.

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