Dostoevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories, essays, and articles. He is widely considered one of the Western world’s most influential writers, with many of his novels are regarded as classics. However, less is said about how his faith sustained his life and informed his work.
What Happened in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Life?
Dostoevsky wrote during an unsettled political and social period in Russia in the 1800s. His work often incorporated spiritual and philosophical motifs with existential undertones. His most recognized works are Crime and Punishment (1866) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880).
He was born in Moscow in 1821, and his parents introduced him to both Russian and international writers from a young age. After graduating from school, he worked as an engineer and translated books. During this time, he completed his first novel, Poor Folk. He was welcomed into various literary circles—some of which read and debated banned books criticizing the Russian government. He was charged with conspiring against Tsar Nicholas, which led to a death sentence, but he was remitted as he faced a firing squad. Even after receiving a repeive, he lived in a prison camp for four years and then spent six years in exile in required military service.
After, Dostoevsky became a magazine journalist and traveled through western Europe. Due to a gamlbing addiciton, he eventually had to beg for money. But he continued to write and produce 13 novels, 17 short stories, and many other pieces. He became one of the most read and esteemed Russian authors. Today, his books have been translated into 170 languages, and his writings and themes have been used in many movies.
How Did Christianity Inform Dostoevsky’s Life?
Dostoyevsky’s father was a doctor. The deacon at his hospital taught young Dostoyevsky Bible stories and the foundational message of the Bible. Dostoevsky's paternal ancestors were Russian Orthodox Christians, and his parents professed Christianity. They taught him suffering was part of life, which helped him persevere through his many trials and influenced the characters in his writings.
In this article written to commemorate Dostoevsky’s birthday, Diana Severence details when Dostoesvky became a Christian and how it changed his life:
Dostoevsky’s Christian Influence
The famous Russian novelist and Christian, Fyodor Dostoyevsky was born on this day, November 11, 1821. From earliest childhood Dostoyevsky knew the gospels and learned Bible stories from the deacon at the hospital where his father was a doctor. As he looked back in later years, he rejoiced that as a child he was brought up in a home that knew Christ, and that his mother and father had given him something holy and precious to carry him through the rest of his life. In particular, it was the Christian teachings of embracing the suffering intrinsic to life that would help Dostoevsky endure the unfortunate circumstances of his later years.
As a young man, Dostoyevsky was an activist promoting the social ideals of his day. In 1849, at age 26, he was charged with conspiracy against Tsar Nicholas’ government and sentenced to death. Standing before a firing squad, he was reprieved at the last moment (the dramatic moment turned out to be an act staged as a terrifying warning), and sent to prison in Siberia for four years. On his way, a group of women gave him a New Testament which he treasured the rest of his life. The underlining in his New Testament shows that he emphasized two themes: persecution of the just and the coming Day of Judgment. He believed that man’s road to salvation must be through suffering.
A Light in the Dark
However, his view of suffering was not pessimistic. In his writings, the darkness was always lighted, however indistinctly, by the sufferings of Christ. The most degenerate person still retains a spark of God’s image and must be loved as our neighbor. In The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky alluded to the good and evil in every human being writing, “The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man.”
He also believed in God’s Providence. Once, when a friend remarked that his Siberian punishment had been unjust, Dostoyevsky disagreed, pointing out that God had sent him to Siberia to teach him important lessons. Dostoyevsky’s best known novels—The Idiot, Memoirs from Underground, Crime and Punishment, and The Brothers Karamazov—explore man’s sinful soul and show that suffering has a purifying effect upon an individual.
Dostoyevsky, an epileptic, struggled all his life with powerful compulsions, such as gambling. Although he saw Christ as embodying freedom for men (a freedom that the Grand Inquisitor he invented in The Brothers Karamazov considers cruel, because most people can’t bear it), Dostoyevsky never seemed to understand how to experience that freedom himself.
He died in 1881. The epitaph on his grave is from John 12:24: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Bibliography:
1. Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story.
2. Berdyaev, Nicholas. Dostoevsky. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1962.
3. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. Various editions.
4. Kaus, Otto. Dostojewski zur Kritik der Personlichkeit. Munchen, 1916. Source of the image.
5. Wintle, Justin. Makers of Nineteenth Century Culture, 1800-1914. London; Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982; p. 175.
(“Fyodor Dostoevsky: More than a Novelist” by Diana Severance, PhD, edited by Dan Graves, MSL, first appeared in Christianity.com on April 28, 2010)
Quotes on Faith in Fyodor Dostoesvky’s Books
“The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man.” — The Brothers Karamazov
God knows what comes into one’s head in idleness.” — Winter’s Notes on Summer Impressions
“Rather than go preaching to people about what they ought to be, show them through your own example. Carry it out yourselves in practice, and everyone will follow you.” — A Writer's Diary, Volume Two, 1877-1881
“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.” — The Brothers Karamazov
“My friends, God is necessary for me if only because he is the one being who can be loved eternally.” — Demons
“God has such gladness every time he sees from heaven that a sinner is praying to Him with all his heart, as a mother has when she sees the first smile on her baby’s face.” — The Idiot
“If it were not for Christ’s Church, indeed there would be no restraint on the criminal in his evildoing . . . If anything protects society even in our time, and even reforms the criminal himself and transforms him into a different person, again it is Christ’s law alone, which manifests itself in the acknowledgment of one’s own conscience.” — The Brothers Karamazov
Who Are Some Christian Authors Influenced by Dostoesvky?
Dostoevsky has influenced countless writers, but often not much gets said about fellow Christian writers informed by his work.
Walker Percy was a twentieth-century American writer. His writings, particularly his fiction, have been largely impacted by Dostoevsky. Both authors have delighted secular readers, even though Christian thought fills their writings.
J.I. Packer was an evangelical theologian of the 20 century. He wrote the best-selling book Knowing God, in which he examines God’s character described in the Bible—such as love, grace, and wrath. In the forward to the Gospel in Dostoevsky, Packer names Dostoevsky as the greatest Christian storyteller ever. He cites that Dostoevsky’s description of the misery and sin of humanity is matched only by his vision of God’s amazing grace and suffering Himself. Packer points out that Dostoevsky paints the hurt of an unredeemed life and Christ as the Redeemer.
Eugene Peterson wrote over 30 books, including the award-winning and bestselling The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Patterson was also a minister and shares in his essay for the collection More Than Words how he improved as a pastor by having regular times with Dostoevsky to read his work, considering and applying his descriptions of God and humanity.
Dostoevsky also influenced later generations of Russian writers who share his faith.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970. However, the Soviet government prohibited him from accepting it because he wrote about his own life being jailed in Stalin’s prison camps in the novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Like Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn was sent to prison for criticizing the Russian government. It was there he met Christians, who inspired him with their understanding of faith and truth through the lens of suffering. While in prison, he realized the depth of his sin and found God as a result. He then pursued the spiritual and social renewal of Russia.
Eugene Vodolazkin is a contemporary Russian writer born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and now lives in St. Petersburg, Russia. He has won all of Russia’s main literary awards, and many of his novels (such as Lauras, Brisbane, and A History of the Island) have been translated into English and several other languages. Christian journals, such as First Things and Plough, have published his work.
Great Books about Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dostoevsky (1962), by Nicholas Berdyaev and translated by Donald Attwater, describes Dostoevsky’s grasp of Christ and humanity and such topics as freedom, love, evil, revolution, and Russia and how his writing applies to modern day life and contemporary thought.
Makers of Nineteenth Century Culture (2001), edited by Justin Wintle, considers the lives and works of the most influential writers, artists, philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians from around the globe. The book highlights Dostoevsky and leading cultural makers like Darwin, Marx, Nietzsche, Poe, and Wilde.
In The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece (2021), author Kevin Birmingham thoroughly investigates how Dostoevsky wrote this classic murder story. He describes Dostoevsky's participation in radical politics and how it landed him in exile in Siberia. It was there he observed the criminals that would be the inspiration for one of the greatest books in Western literature.
Photo Credit: 1872 painting by Vasiley Perov/Wikimedia Commons
Nate Van Noord is from Detroit, MI, a graduate of Calvin University, and has taught high school history for many years. He loves to bike, run, and play pickleball, has been to about 30 countries, and is a three time winner of NPR's Moth Detroit StorySlam competitions.
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
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