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The concept of joy in the context of F. Dostoevskij’s understanding of the essence of religious belief

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Abstract

In this article I show that Dostoevskij criticized traditional Christianity, and that for him the authentic teaching of Christianity concerned the unity of man and God, the existence in man of a divine “dimension,” the opening of which allows man to become an absolute being. In the context of this understanding of man and God the concept of “joy” is an important one. This concept includes, on the one hand, the fullness of earthly human life (this aspect of joy is expressed by Dmitri Karamazov) and, on the other hand, the transformation of man and of all earthly being into an absolute and divine state (this aspect of joy is expressed by Kirillov and the elder Zosima). Dostoevskij’s philosophical outlook appears to be a development of a well known philosophical tradition, mystical pantheism.

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Notes

  1. All citations from Dostoevsky’s novels are taken from Constance Garnett’s translation.

  2. While working on the idea of his treatise Antichrist Friedrich Nietzsche read Demons, and he copied out Kirillov’s statement quoted above in his notebook. Therefore, it is no surprise that the interpretation of Jesus Christ’s teachings in Antichrist exactly matches Kirillov's statement. This is how Nietzsche describes the essence of Jesus’s teachings: “’Sin,’ which means anything that puts a distance between God and man, is abolished—this is precisely the ‘glad tidings.’ Eternal bliss is not merely promised, nor is it bound up with conditions: it is conceived as the only reality—what remains consists merely of signs useful in speaking of it” (Nietzsche 1923, p. 102). The “bliss” of which Nietzsche writes exactly matches Dostoevsky’s “joy.”

  3. In Constance Garnett’s English translation instead of “Highest” the word “God” was used, which seriously changes the meaning of the text.

References

  • Dostoevskij, F. M. (1994). The Brothers Karamazov. In Great books of the Western world (Vol. 52). Dostoevsky. Ibsen. 2nd ed. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc.

  • Dostoevskij, F. M. (2013). Demons (World Classics). London: Soverein.

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  • Nietzsche, F. W. (1923). The Antichrist (translated from the German with an introduction by H. L. Mencken). New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Pocket Book Edition.

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  1. Institute of Philosophy, St. Petersburg State University, 5, Mendeleevskaya, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    Igor Evlampiev

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  1. Igor Evlampiev
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Correspondence to Igor Evlampiev.

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Evlampiev, I. The concept of joy in the context of F. Dostoevskij’s understanding of the essence of religious belief. Stud East Eur Thought 66, 139–148 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-014-9204-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-014-9204-3

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