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We should all read Brothers Karamazov at least once, but maybe once suffices. On the other hand, we can easily resort to the crux of the book: The Grand Inquisitor chapter. Here is an excerpt from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky:
For in these three questions all of subsequent human history is as if brought together into a single whole and foretold; three images are revealed that will take in all the insoluble historical contradictions of human nature over all the earth. This could not have been seen so well at the time, for the future was unknown, but now that fifteen centuries have gone by, we can see that in these three questions everything was so precisely divined and foretold, and has proved so completely true, that to add to them or subtract anything from them is impossible.

“‘Decide yourself who was right: you or the one who questioned you then? Recall the first question; its meaning, though not literally, was this: “You want to go into the world, and you are going empty-handed, with some promise of freedom, which they in their simplicity and innate lawlessness cannot even comprehend, which they dread and fear—for nothing has ever been more insufferable for man and for human society than freedom! But do you see these stones in this bare, scorching desert? Turn them into bread and mankind will run after you like sheep, grateful and obedient, though eternally trembling lest you withdraw your hand and your loaves cease for them.” But you did not want to deprive man of freedom and rejected the offer, for what sort of freedom is it, you reasoned, if obedience is bought with loaves of bread? You objected that man does not live by bread alone, but do you know that in the name of this very earthly bread, the spirit of the earth will rise against you and fight with you and defeat you, and everyone will follow him exclaiming: “Who can compare to this beast, for he has given us fire from heaven!” Do you know that centuries will pass and mankind will proclaim with the mouth of its wisdom and science that there is no crime, and therefore no sin, but only hungry men? “Feed them first, then ask virtue of them!”—that is what they will write on the banner they raise against you, and by which your temple will be destroyed. In place of your temple a new edifice will be raised, the terrible Tower of Babel will be raised again, and though, like the former one, this one will not be completed either, still you could have avoided this new tower and shortened people’s suffering by a thousand years—for it is to us they will come after suffering for a thousand years with their tower! They will seek us out again, underground, in catacombs, hiding (for again we shall be persecuted and tortured), they will find us and cry out: “Feed us, for those who promised us fire from heaven did not give it.” And then we shall finish building their tower, for only he who feeds them will finish it, and only we shall feed them, in your name, for we shall lie that it is in your name. Oh, never, never will they feed themselves without us! No science will give them bread as long as they remain free, but in the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us: “Better that you enslave us, but feed us.” They will finally understand that freedom and earthly bread in plenty for everyone are inconceivable together, for never, never will they be able to share among themselves. They will also be convinced that they are forever incapable of being free, because they are feeble, depraved, nonentities and rebels. You promised them heavenly bread, but, I repeat again, can it compare with earthly bread in the eyes of the weak, eternally depraved, and eternally ignoble human race? And if in the name of heavenly bread thousands and tens of thousands will follow you, what will become of the millions and tens of thousands of millions of creatures who will not be strong enough to forgo earthly bread for the sake of the heavenly? Is it that only the tens of thousands of the great and strong are dear to you, and the remaining millions, numerous as the sands of the sea, weak but loving you, should serve only as material for the great and the strong? No, the weak, too, are dear to us. They are depraved and rebels, but in the end it is they who will become obedient. They will marvel at us, and look upon us as gods, because we, standing at their head, have agreed to suffer freedom and to rule over them—so terrible will it become for them in the end to be free! But we shall say that we are obedient to you and rule in your name. We shall deceive them again, for this time we shall not allow you to come to us. This deceit will constitute our suffering, for we shall have to lie. This is what that first question in the wilderness meant, and this is what you rejected in the name of freedom, which you placed above everything. And yet this question contains the great mystery of this world. Had you accepted the“loaves,” you would have answered the universal and everlasting anguish of man as an individual being, and of the whole of mankind together, namely: “before whom shall I bow down?” There is no more ceaseless or tormenting care for man, as long as he remains free, than to find someone to bow down to as soon as possible. But man seeks to bow down before that which is indisputable, so indisputable that all men at once would agree to the universal worship of it. For the care of these pitiful creatures is not just to find something before which I or some other man can bow down, but to find something that everyone else will also believe in and bow down to, for it must needs be all together. And this need for communality of worship is the chief torment of each man individually, and of mankind as a whole, from the beginning of the ages. In the cause of universal worship, they have destroyed each other with the sword. They have made gods and called upon each other: “Abandon your gods and come and worship ours, otherwise death to you and your gods!” And so it will be until the end of the world, even when all gods have disappeared from the earth: they will still fall down before idols. You knew, you could not but know, this essential mystery of human nature, but you rejected the only absolute banner, which was offered to you to make all men bow down to you indisputably—the banner of earthly bread; and you rejected it in the name of freedom and heavenly bread. Now see what you did next. And all again in the name of freedom! I tell you that man has no more tormenting care than to find someone to whom he can hand over as quickly as possible that gift of freedom with which the miserable creature is born. But he alone can take over the freedom of men who appeases their conscience. With bread you were given an indisputable banner: give man bread and he will bow down to you, for there is nothing more indisputable than bread. But if at the same time someone else takes over his conscience—oh, then he will even throw down your bread and follow him who has seduced his conscience. In this you were right. For the mystery of man’s being is not only in living, but in what one lives for. Without a firm idea of what he lives for, man will not consent to live and will sooner destroy himself than remain on earth, even if there is bread all around him. That is so, but what came of it? Instead of taking over men’s freedom, you increased it still more for them! Did you forget that peace and even death are dearer to man than free choice in the knowledge of good and evil? There is nothing more seductive for man than the freedom of his conscience, but there is nothing more tormenting either. And so, instead of a firm foundation for appeasing human conscience once and for all, you chose everything that was unusual, enigmatic, and indefinite, you chose everything that was beyond men’s strength, and thereby acted as if you did not love them at all—and who did this? He who came to give his life for them! Instead of taking over men’s freedom, you increased it and forever burdened the kingdom of the human soul with its torments. You desired the free love of man, that he should follow you freely, seduced and captivated by you. Instead of the firm ancient law, man had henceforth to decide for himself, with a free heart, what is good and what is evil, having only your image before him as a guide—but did it not occur to you that he would eventually reject and dispute even your image and your truth if he was oppressed by so terrible a burden as freedom of choice? They will finally cry out that the truth is not in you, for it was impossible to leave them in greater confusion and torment than you did, abandoning them to so many cares and insoluble problems. Thus you yourself laid the foundation for the destruction of your own kingdom, and do not blame anyone else for it. Yet is this what was offered you? There are three powers, only three powers on earth, capable of conquering and holding captive forever the conscience of these feeble rebels, for their own happiness—these powers are miracle, mystery, and authority. You rejected the first, the second, and the third, and gave yourself as an example of that.
The unparagraphed text runs on for intimidating pages, but we have here the heart of the matter. Dostoevsky has the cynical Ivan confront the faithful Alyosha with a “poem” about Christ appearing in Inquisitorial Spain and being taken before the Grand Inquisitor who presents this case against him. It is the author’s great insight that the singular objection raised against God is the unbearable burden of the gift of free will. For while we know in our heads that we should always freely choose the perfect good, our fallible mortal nature leads us all too often to choose evil. This fundamental contradiction is the human dilemma and some would rather damn God for creating us creatures that have to live it out than celebrate Him for the generosity that permits the epic struggle.

Nor should we overmuch blame those who curse this gift, for it took even God Himself some time to appreciate the task He had laid before us. We disappointed Him from the moment we rebelled in the Garden and ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, to the point where He came close to destroying all of Creation in the Flood. Ultimately, He made the ultimate sacrifice and became Man in an attempt to understand our behavior. But then He despaired on the Cross–"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?")--and became reconciled to us. Yet He still did not deprive us of free will, did He? He simply chose to love us despite our inability to use our freedom perfectly. He accepted our imperfection. It is we who have been unable to do so.

[At the very least, watch the televised adaptation from 1975, starring John Geilgud, with its devastating final scene, which Alyosha repeats in the novel.]


(Reviewed:)

Grade: (A+)


Websites:

See also:

Fyodor Dostoevsky (3 books reviewed)
Religion
Russian Literature
Fyodor Dostoevsky Links:

    -Fyodor (Mikhaylovich) Dostoevsky (1821-1881) (kirjasto)
    -Fyodor Dostoevsky (Wes Marlan, FyodorDostoevsky.com )
    -FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY (1821-1881) (Guardian)
    -Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821 - 1881) (little blue light)
    -Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821 - 1881) (the Internet Public Library Online Literary Criticism Collection)
    -Fyodor Dostoevsky (Wikipedia)
    -CARICATURE: Fyodor Dostoevsky (David Levine, NY Review of Books)
    -International Dostoevsky Society
    -ETEXT: Notes from the Underground
    -ETEXT: Crime and Punishment
    -ETEXTS: Works by Fyodor Dostoevsky (CCEL)
    -AUDIO STORY: The Dream Of A Ridiculous Man by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (read by Trey Downey, 30 June 2023, the Greeat Stories)
    -PODCAST: Sacred and Profane Love Episode 2: Doestoevsky and Transfiguring Love (Sacred and Profane Love, 22 April 2019)
    -VIDEO: The Grand Inquisitor - John Gielgud (A rare version 1975 of The Grand Inquisitor from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov produced by the Open University.)
    -PODCAST: How Dostoevsky’s Exile in Siberia Led to Four of the Greatest Novels in Literature: Kevin Birmingham Guests on the Book Dreams Podcast (Book Dreams, April 14, 2022)
    -ESSAY: “The Crocodile,” Dostoevsky’s Weirdest Short Story: Why being eaten by a crocodile named Little Karl is really a lesson in the dangers of foreign capital. (Emily Zarevich August 26, 2024, JStor Daily)
    -ESSAY: Monstrous Things: Dostoevsky, Alice Munro, and the nature of fiction—what does our inability to forgive do to our ability to confess? (Allan Stratton, 1 Sep 2024, Quillette)
    -ESSAY: Dostoevsky’s Dangerous Gambit: The divine hiddenness at the core of a masterpiece. (Ryan Kemp, 12/08/23, Hedgehog Review)
    -ESSAY: Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Five Principles of Personal Freedom: The Russian writer’s work might not be everyone’s idea of lightness and joy. But look within and you shall find. (Arthur C. Brooks, 7/25/24, The Atlantic)
    -ESSAY: Why Does God Allow the Innocent to Suffer?: Not all of life’s questions can be answered rationally. Dostoyevsky points to another way. (Peter Wehner, NOVEMBER 3, 2023, Plough)
    -ESSAY: Ivan Karamazov’s Meth Lab: Dostoevsky’s Theology in Breaking Bad (Sophia Belloncle, 10/27/23, Voegelin View)
    -ESSAY: Notes From the Underground Shines a Light on The Genealogy of Morals (Richard Cocks, 4/01/23, Voegelin View)
    -ESSAY: The Grand Inquisitor and the Voice of Freedom: Dostoevsky's tale reveals the perennial value of freedom, set against the perverse claims of social engineering. (Mihail Neamtu, 3/03/23, Law & Liberty))
    -ESSAY: Dear Vladimir Putin: If You’ve Read Dostoevsky, You’ve Tragically Misunderstood Him: Austin Ratner on Russian Imperialism and Misreading The Brothers Karamazov (Austin Ratner, 10/20/22, LitHub)
    -ESSAY: Dostoevsky and the Pleasure of Taking Offense (Anthony Eagan, June 17, 2022, Quillette)
    -ESSAY: The Master of Petersburg and the Martyr of Style: Dostoevsky and Flaubert should be studied together as progenitors of the modern novel. (John G. Rodden, 11 Feb 2022, American Purpose)
    -ESSAY: Youthful Cynicism and Dostoevsky’s Case for Hope: Why do we choose to believe in a framework where suffering and violence are the most fundamental reality of the world? How can pain and grief coexist with the small joys that we experience daily? (KATERINA LEVINSON, 2/15/22, Public Discourse)
    -ESSAY: Dostoevsky’s 200th Birthday and His Living Legacy (Sainowaki Keiko, 1/24/22, Nippon)
    -ESSAY: Encountering the Spirit of Revolutionary Negation: Fyodor Dostoevsky's Demons continues to illuminate a path forward amidst our debilitating contemporary crisis. (Daniel J. Mahoney, 1/03/22, Law & Liberty)
    -ESSAY: The Grand Inquisitor: On Dostoyevsky’s immersive polyphony and neologisms (JULIA KRISTEVA, 1/03/22, BookForum)
    -ESSAY: Dostoevsky at 200: An Idea of Evil: Radical yet reactionary, the Russian literary giant remains a bundle of paradoxes. (CATHY YOUNG, DECEMBER 31, 2021, The Bulwark)
    -ESSAY: Dostoevsky’s Favorite Murder: The author of “Crime and Punishment” had a love-hate relationship with the true-crime obsessions of his era. (Jennifer Wilson/December 28, 2021, New Republic)
    -ESSAY: Crime, Punishment, and Columbo (Thomas Hibbs, December 22, 2021, Pundicity)
    -PODCAST: Kevin Birmingham on How Dostoevsky Came to Write Crime and Punishment: In Conversation with Andrew Keen on Keen On (Keen On, November 18, 2021)
    -ESSAY: 5 books Dostoevsky considered masterpieces (VALERIA PAIKOVA, 4/09/21, Russia Beyobd)
    -ESSAY: Fyodor Dostoevsky: philosopher of freedom (Gary Saul Morson, January 2021, New Criterion)
    -ESSAY: A God-Possessed Man: Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821 – 1881) (Malcolm Muggeridge, A Third Testament)
    -ESSAY: Ivan Karamazov’s Mistake (Ralph C. Wood, December 2002, First Things)
    -ESSAY: Kant's Aesthetics in Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground (David A. Goldfarb, Mid-Atlantic Slavic Conference)
    -ESSAY: Dostoevsky's nihilism (RAVI VYAS, 9/02/01, The Hindu)
    -ESSAY: Awakening from Nihilism: The Templeton Prize Address (Michael Novak, August/September 1994, First Things)
    -ESSAY: Tragic and Comic Visions in the Brothers Karamazov (Joyce Carol Oates)
    -ESSAY: Encountering Dostoevsky (Jessica Hooten Wilson, 2/20/20, Law & Liberty)
    -ESSAY: Dostoevsky’s Credo: Gary Saul Morson , February 18, 2025, First Things)
    -INTRODUCTION: Dostoyevsky Stricken: A God-possessed man reacts to suffering. : From the foreword to The Gospel in Dostoyevsky: Selections from His Works (Malcolm Muggeridge, Plough)
    -Christiaan Stange's DOSTOEVSKY RESEARCH STATION
    -ESSAY: Fyodor Dostoevsky (Katharena Eiermann, Realm of Existentialism)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Notes from Underground (Spark Notes)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Middlebury's Notes from the Underground Study Guide (Jen Marder, Mike Meyer, and Fred Wyshak)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Study Guide for Notes from the Underground (Paul Brians, Department of English, Washington State University)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Dostoevsky: Notes from the Underground (Professor George Mitrevski, Department of Foreign Languages at Auburn University)
    -LECTURE: Lecture on Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground (Dr. Gary R. Jahn)
    -Researching The Brothers Karamazov (Dartmouth College)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Middlebury's Brother Karamzov Study Guide
    -
   
-ESSAY: Of Course True Crime Fans Are Guilty: For Fyodor Dostoevsky, that was the point (KEVIN BIRMINGHAM, NOV 24, 2021, Slate)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: The Eyes of Another: Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, ‘Crime and Punishment,’ offers a radical reinterpretation of guilt and redemption. (Marilyn Simon, 31 Jan 2023, Quillette)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: On Hope and Holy Fools: There is nothing very sexy about hope. (Tara Isabella Burton, Fall 2022, Hedgehog Review)
    -ARCHIVES: dostoevsky (Find Articles)
    -REVIEW: of Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky (Allen Barra, Salon)
    -REVIEW: of Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky (Peter Heinegg, America)
    -REVIEW: of The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by David McDuff (A.S. Byatt, The Guardian)
    -REVIEW: of Dostoevsky, The Miraculous Years 1865-1871 by Joseph Frank (A S Byatt, The Observer)
    -REVIEW: of Resurrection from the Underground: Feodor Dostoevsky. By René Girard. Translated by James G. Williams (Andrew J. McKenna, First Things)
    -REVIEW: of DOSTOEVSKY: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881 By Joseph Frank (MICHAEL SCAMMELL, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet 1871-81 by Joseph Frank (Michael Wood, The Guardian)
    -REVIEW: of Dostoevsky: The Miraculous Years, 1865-1871 by Joseph Frank (J.M. Coetzee, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Richard Pevear, and translated by Larissa Volokhonsky (John Bayley, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of Dostoevsky: The Stir of Liberation, 1860-1865 by Joseph Frank (V.S. Pritchett, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of Dostoevsky: The Years of Ordeal, 1850-1859 by Joseph Frank (V.S. Pritchett, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: V.S. Pritchett: The Dostoevsky Labyrinth (NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of Dostoevsky: Reminiscences by Anna Dostoevsky, translated and edited by Beatrice Stillman, and with an introduction by Helen Muchnic (V. S. Pritchett, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: John Bayley: Idealism and Its Critic (NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of An Existentialist Ethics by Hazel E. Barnes (Philippa Foot, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of Winter Notes on Summer Impressions by Fyodor M. Dostoevsky,  Dostoevsky: The Major Fiction by Edward Wasiolek (Helen Muchnic, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of Dostoevsky's Occasional Writings selected, translated, and introduced by David Magarshack (Helen Muchnic, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: Encountering Dostoevsky (jessica hooten wilson, 2/20/20, Law & Liberty)
    -REVIEW: of Dostoyevsky Reads Hegel in Siberia and Bursts Into Tears by László F. Földényi (James Wood, The New Yorker)
    -REVIEW of The Idiot (Clancy Martin, Book Forum)
    -REVIEW: of Lectures on Dostoesvky | Joseph Frank (Heidi White, Forma)
    -REVIEW: of Dostoevsky in Love: An Intimate Life By Alex Christofi (Donald Rayfield, Literary Review)
    -REVIEW: of Dostoevsky in Love (Albert Wald, University Bookman)
    -
   
-REVIEW: of The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece by Kevin Birmingham (David Stromberg, American Scholar)
    -REVIEW: of Sinner and the Saint (Ian Thomson, The Observer)
    -REVIEW: of Sinner and the Saint (Maureen Corrigan, NPR)
    -REVIEW: of The Sinner and The saint (Jennifer Wilson, New Republic)
    -REVIEW: of Sinner and the Saint (Jake Bittle, The Nation)
    -REVIEW: of Sinner and the Saint (Christopher Sandford, Hedgehog Review)
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-REVIEW ESSAY: A Spouse Divided: Two new biographies delve into Dostoyevsky’s relationship with his long-suffering wife (REBECCA PANOVKA, 12/17/21, BookForum)

FILM:
    -FILMOGRAPHY: Fyodor Dostoyevsky (IMDB.com)
    -FILM SITE: Notes from Underground (directed by Gary Walkow)

Book-related and General Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: The Grand Inquisitor
    -FILMOGRAPHY: The Grand Inquisitor (1975) (IMDB)
    -FILM SITE: Dostoevsky Reimagined
    -INDEX: “grand inquisitor” (Imaginative Conservative)
    -INDEX: “grand Inquisitor” (First Things)
    -PODCAST INDEX: “grand inquisitor” (Listen Notes)
    -INDEX: “grand inquisitor” (Voegelin View)
    -VIDEO INDEX: grand inquisitor (You Tube)
    -EXCERPT: THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV :Chapter 5 -- The Grand Inquisitor (Christian Classics Ethereal Library)
    -EXCERPT: The Grand Inquisitor By Fyodor Dostoyevsky: From The Brothers Karamazov (1880, II.v.5) (Translated from the Russian by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky)
    -VIDEO: The Grand Inquisitor - John Gielgud: A rare version 1975 of The Grand Inquisitor from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov produced by the Open University.
    -AUDIO: The Grand Inquisitor (dramatic reading) (LibriVox)
    -ETEXTS: The Grand Inquisitor by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Project Gutenberg)
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-PODCAST: Dostoevsky's The Grand Inquisitor (The New Thinkery, 12 July 2023)
    -PODCAST: Bonus Episode: The Grand Inquisitor (The Readers’ Karamazov, 13 April 2022)
    -PODCAST: The Grand Inquisitor (Catholic Stuff, 28 January 2021)
    -PODCAST: 256: Dostoyevsky - The Grand Inquisitor pt. 1 (Banned Books, 3 July 2022)
    -PODCAST: 257: Dostoyevsky - The Grand Inquisitor pt. 2 (Banned Books, 9 July 2022)
    -PODCAST: 258: Dostoyevsky - The Grand Inquisitor pt. 3 (Banned Books, 17 July 2022)
    -PODCAST: Dostoevsky, The Grand Inquisitor, 1 (Reading and Writing, 8 March 2021)
    -PODCAST: Dostoevsky, The Grand Inquisitor, 2 (Reading and Writing, 8 March 2021)
    -PODCAST: 41: The Grand Inquisitor (Classical Stuff You Should Know, 12 June 2018)
    -PODCAST: Episode 36 - The Grand Inquisitor (The Brothers Karamazov, 27 April 2022)
    -PODCAST: 68. The Brothers Karamazov - Book 5.5, "The Grand Inquisitor" (Creative Retrieval, 30 October 2023)
    -PODCAST: The Readers Karamazov
    -PODCAST: The Brothers Karamazov (Spreaker)
    -VIDEO LECTURE: Dostoevsky & The Grand Inquisitor Lecture (Spencer Ivy Teaches Philosophy)
    -VIDEO LECTURE: Fyodor Dostoevsky | The Grand Inquisitor Chapter (Existentialist Philosophy & Literature, Gregory B. Sadler)
    -VIDEO LECTURE: Dostoevsky's The Grand Inquisitor (The Biggest Philosophical & Religious Questions) (Teachphilosophy)
    -
   
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-STUDY GUIDE: Brothers Karamazov (Cliff Notes)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Book V Chapter 5 (Cliff Notes)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Grand Inquisitor SparkNotes)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Summary of ‘The Grand Inquisitor’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky (New Book Recommendation)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Grand Inquisitor (Super Summary)
    -
   
-ESSAY: The Grand Inquisitor and the Voice of Freedom: Dostoevsky's tale reveals the perennial value of freedom, set against the perverse claims of social engineering. (Mihail Neamtu, 3/03/23, Law & Liberty)
The Spanish Inquisition represents the institutionalization of this perennial temptation, whereby people voluntarily surrender their real freedoms for the delusional benefits of being protected by the state. Dostoevsky is warning against the dangers of giving up one’s individual sense of freedom for the sake of social acceptance and physical security, as this can lead to the loss of one’s human dignity and the enslavement of people.

The cardinal speaks from the perspective of the holder of secret knowledge. Any system designed to exploit the ignorance of the masses will resort to experts who, in the name of objective science, can justify any economic, educational, or medical policies. He is an “all-knowing” intellectual who is willing at any time to replace the ill-informed choices of the uneducated people with his own enlightened orders or executive decisions.

The Grand Inquisitor refuses any local initiative and instead maintains a religion of fear, based on control and surveillance, an absence of privacy, and a tight grip on society. There are no checks and balances, which could prevent the Cardinal from abusing his nearly absolute powers.

Here we discover the demonic configuration of the authority of the Grand Inquisitor, eager to oversee the destinies of the masses, crush all dreams, and diminish the infinite potential of human nature. The devilish spirit puts freedom in the service of nothing. The demands of Christian life prove to be intolerable.

    -ESSAY: Dostoevsky: Freedom, Evil, and the Existence of God (Richard Cocks, 5/27/20, Voegelin View)
The dignity of man and the source of his intrinsic worth is to be found in the fact that he is made in the image of God. The way in which man is an image of God is in his freedom – an unknowable infinity lying within his breast – the same infinity associated with God. This freedom is a burden that most people would rather do without. The Grand Inquisitor remonstrates with Jesus, saying that only the strong can bear the weight of freedom and thus that freedom is a most terrible thing that makes people accountable for their actions and requires too much of them. People just want bread, peaceable relations with their neighbors, forgiveness of sins, and the promise of a happy existence in this life and the next. The Grand Inquisitor offers all of that. He and his cronies will take control of the bread supplies, not baking it themselves, but distributing it equitably because he knows we are incapable of doing this ourselves. He will take our confessions and absolve us of sin to relieve our groaning consciences, and will lyingly promise an afterlife, when, of course, the Grand Inquisitor represents a complete rejection of Christianity and the dignity of man. He will enslave the population and lie to them and they will be grateful and praise him as their savior. Freedom is a burden. It is aristocratic, not democratic.

If evil exists for real, then morality exists for real. Berdyaev comments that the existence of evil proves the existence of God just as surely as the existence of goodness does. Without God (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost), then morality does not exist. So, in judging the mistreatment of children as evil, someone is evoking God. He is saying these monsters are free and responsible for their actions. Freedom can find no purchase in physical reality. Freedom intrudes itself in the realm of Earth, from its heavenly, otherworldly origins. It is a spiritual reality that is connected with the human soul, and the divine, eternal human soul, introduces agency into an otherwise anonymous world where everything would otherwise be a mere “sequence of events.” Agents are centers of decision-making. If determinism is true, then there are no agents, we make no decisions at all – that is a mere illusion.

In rejecting a world and a God where children can be mistreated, the rejecting person is in fact accepting the reality of love and morality which can only exist if the nonphysical and spiritual is real. He is using the very criteria made possible by the thing he is rejecting. Evil is made possible by Freedom. The only alternative to having evil be possible is slavery. Either a slavery and coercion imposed by God (an oxymoron), or the slavery and coercion of a deterministic universe. If we want love to exist, then we have to accept Freedom. Love at gunpoint is meaningless and an illusion were it somehow to be possible.

    -ESSAY: The Problem of Theocracy in The Brothers Karamazov (Elayne Allen, 8/15/18, Voegelin View)
    -REVIEW: of Giving the Devil His Due: Demonic Authority in the Fiction of Flannery O’Connor and Fyodor Dostoevsky by Jessica Hooten Wilson (Charles R. Embry, Voegelin View)
    -ESSAY: This Star Will Shine Forth from the East: Dostoevsky and the Politics of Humility (John P. Moran, 3/21/18, Voegelin View)
    -ESSAY: Dostoevsky’s Discovery of the Christian Foundation of Politics (David Walsh, 3/20/18, Voegelin View)
    -ESSAY: Ivan Karamazov's Mistake (Ralph C. Wood, December 2002, First Things)
    -ESSAY: Dostoevsky and the Fiery Word (Richard John Neuhaus, March 2003, First Things)
    -ESSAY: Dostoevsky Also Nods (Rodney Delasanta, January 2002, First Things)
    -ESSAY: Christ and Nothing (David Bentley Hart, October 2003, First Things)
    -ESSAY: The Politics and Experience of Active Love in The Brothers Karamazov (Lee Trepanier, 1/20/17, Voegelin View)
    -ESSAY: Puddleglum, Jeremy Bentham, & the Grand Inquisitor (Dwight Longenecker, November 28th, 2020, Imaginative Conservative)
    -ESSAY: The Problem of Theocracy in The Brothers Karamazov (Elayne Allen|July 5th, 2018, Imaginative Conservative)
    -ESSAY: Changing the World Through Guilt (Sean Fitzpatrick, January 22nd, 2018, Imaginative Conservative)
    -ESSAY: Theodicy: A philosophical climax of The Brothers Karamazov (Spectrum, December 16, 2009)
    -ESSAY: Ivan Karamazov and God’s goodness (Jonathan Clatworthy, 7/04/14, the point of it all)
    -ESSAY: THEODICIES AND HUMAN NATURE: DOSTOEVSKY ON THE SAINT AS WITNESS (Timothy O’Connor, April 2008)
    -ESSAY: Ivan and his Doubles: The Failure of Intellect in The Brothers Karamazov (Alex Donley, Montview Journal)
    -ESSAY: Beauty Will Save the World: Metaphysical Rebellion and the Problem of Theodicy in Dostoevsky's]Brothers Karamazov (Ronald E. Osborn, Winter–Fall 2012, Modern Age)
    -ESSAY: How Dostoyevsky Framed Ivan Karamazov: Dostoyevsky intentionally intensified Ivan’s arguments against God. (Eugene Terekhin, Apr 08, 2024, Philosophy of Language)
    -CHAPTER: Dostoevsky’s Critique of Theodicy (Evil and the Mystics’ God)
    -ESSAY: The Grand Inquisitor and Exodus (Kevin Rosero, July 30, 2023, Classics and Comets)
    -ESSAY: The Grand Inquisitor in Brothers Karamazov (Spencer Baum, Nov 16, 2017, Medium)
    -ESSAY: Dostoevsky: The Grand Inquisitor (Introduction to Western Philosophy)
    -INTRODUCTION: A summary of The Grand Inquisitor excerpted from Anne Fremantle’s Introduction to The Brothers Karmazov
    -ESSAY: We All Need to Read Dostoevsky’s “The Grand Inquisitor” (Jeff Miller, Mar 20, 2023, Medium)
    -THESIS: The Grand Inquisitor and the problem of evil in modern literature and theology (Kirsten Koppel, 2012, University of Glasgow)
    -ESSAY: D.H. Lawrence and Ivan Karamazov’s Grand Inquisitor’s Christ (Catherine Brown, February 2017)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: Words of the prophet: Dostoevsky and the destiny of Russia (A. N. Wilson, TLS)
    -REVIEW: of Political Apocalypse: A Study of Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor. By Ellis Sandoz (Joseph Frank, 02 September 2013, American Political Science Review)
    -ESSAY: Changing the World Through Guilt (Sean Fitzpatrick, January 22nd, 2018, Imaginative Conservative)
    -ESSAY: The Problem of Theocracy in The Brothers Karamazov (Elayne Allen, July 5th, 2018, Imaginative Conservative)
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-ESSAY: What Americans Today Can Learn from the Russian Past: Lessons from Turgenev and Dostoevsky for American Hillbillies (Lee Trepanier, 12/04/21, Voegelin View)
    -ESSAY: Nikolai Berdyaev: the Primacy of Freedom (Richard Cocks, 1/22/20, Voegelin View)
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-REVIEW ESSAY: The Greatest Christian Novel (Gary Saul Morson, May 2021, First Things)
    -REVIEW: of THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV Translated by Michael R. Katz (Carol Apollonio, TLS)
    -REVIEW: Prophet of Nihilism: a review of Resurrection from the Underground: Feodor Dostoevsky by rené girard. translated by james g. williams (Andrew J. McKenna, May 1998, First Things)
    -ETEXT: Rowan Williams, Dostoevsky: Language, Faith, and Fiction
    -ESSAY: What Dostoevsky knew about evil: The great Russian writer was no saint. But 200 years after his birth, his work shows how we might confront wickedness in the world. (Rowan Williams, New Statesman)
    -INTERVIEW: Archbishop on Dostoevsky - Radio 4's 'One to One' programme: BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall interviews Archbishop Rowan Williams about his fascination with the 19th-century Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky in 'One to One' on BBC Radio 4, 27th December 2011)
    -ESSAY: Rowan Williams on Dostoevsky’s Faith and Ivan’s Inquisitor (Cynthia R. Nielsen, The Church and Postmodern Culture)
    -INTERVIEW: Cross purposes: The Archbishop talks to Stuart Jeffries about his book Dostoevsky: Language, Faith and Fiction. (Stuart Jeffries, 8th October 2008, The Guardian)
    -ESSAY: The Archbishop’s Dostoevsky: Why Rowan Williams is the best man for the job – of appreciating the greatness of Dostoevsky: This wonderful article by A.N. Wilson appeared in today’s The TimesOnline
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-REVIEW: of Dostoevsky: Language, Faith, and Fiction (Theos)
    -REVIEW: of


   
-WIKIPEDIA: Theodicy
    -ENTRY: Theodicy (The Catholic Encyclopedia)
    -ENTRY: Theodicy (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
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-CHAPTER: Chapter 3: Philosophy of Religion: Proofs for the Existence of God: The Problem of Evil (Introduction To Philosophy an Online Textbook By Philip A. Pecorino, Ph.D.)
    -ESSAY: Theodicy, Natural Evil and Simulation Theory (Nir Ziso, February 7, 2022, The Global Architect Institute)
    -ENTRY: The Evidential Problem of Evil (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
    -ENTRY: The Concept of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Nov 26, 2013)
    -ENTRY: Theodicies (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Aug 8, 2024)
    -ENTRY: The Problem of Evil (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Sep 16, 2002)
    -ESSAY: Anti-theodicy: The problem of evil and the importance of taking suffering seriously (N.N. Trakakis, 14 Oct 2024, ABC Religion & Ethics)
    -ESSAY: Theodicy At Its Best (Dr. E.R. Báez, 11/23/24, Author’s Exposition)
    -ESSAY: Theodicy: An Overview (DBU)
    -ESSAY: What is Theodicy (Got Questions?)
    -ESSAY: Theodicy (G. W. Leibniz, Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil)
    -STUDY GUIDE: Theodicy (Study.com)
    -ESSAY: The Theodicy of Everyday Life -- Martin E. Marty: Sightings was overwhelmed with more theological news clippings in the wake of the Asian tsunami than at any time since September 11, 2001 (Martin E. Marty, January 17, 2005, Sightings)
    -ESSAY: 10 Theodicies in Christian Thought (Paul Mayer)
    -ETEXT: Pathways in Theodicy: An Introduction to the Problem of Evil (Mark S. M. Scott, 2015)
    -ESSAY: What Is Theodicy? (Theodicy presents a means of understanding the problem of evil, while allowing room for the possibility of God’s existence. (Luke Dunne,, 8/28/23, The Collector)
    -ESSAY: Evil and suffering: An interim theodicy (R. Page Fulgham, Christian Ethics Today)
    -ESSAY: Theodicy: Answering the Problem of Evil (The Art of Godliness)
    -ESSAY: theodicy (David Potter, 07 March 2016, Oxford Classical Dictionary)
    -ESSAY: What Does the Word Theodicy Mean in Christianity?: Theodicy is a big word with an important idea: where is God when bad things happen? Rather than ignoring this question, Christianity faces it, but with answers you may not expect. (Linda Lyle, May 05, 2023, Christianity.com)
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-ESSAY: Paterson Brown, ‘God and the Good’, Religious Studies (England), 1967
    -REVIEW: of Review of Weisberger, A. (1999) Suffering Belief: Evil and the Anglo-American Defence of Theism (The Secular Web)
    -ESSAY: Natural Selection and the Problem of Evil (Paul Draper, 2007, The Secular Web)
    -ESSAY: "Evil and Omnipotence" (J. L. Mackie, April 1955, Mind)
    -ESSAY: The Evidential Argument from Evil (Nicholas Tattersall, 1998, The Secular Web)