It's even more interesting when you know Ivan is an atheist who thinks God is a menace due to the problem of evil. It's part of why The Brothers K is such a compelling read! Ultimately the conclusion is that we cannot understand God with our minds alone
It makes me wonder if there's this "he's wrong but he's also right but not in the way he thinks he is" dynamic to this quote, kind of like Weisel on the question of where God is. (I would also very badly like to understand God with my mind alone, Ivan! ha.)
Thank you for the *much needed* context! Not sure I would have chosen to highlight it at all if I had known it was Ivan who said it. But here we are.
I think in a way it underscores your point, though, because I think what Dostoevsky is hinting through that passage is that although Ivan claims to not believe in God, he is actually angry with God, suggesting that he believes despite his denials. Ivan's obsession with The Problem of Evil shows that he is still wrestling with God even as he denies Him. Kind of a perfect metaphor for Good Friday. Somehow God dies but is still alive in every one of us.
I LOVE Searching for and Maintaining Peace!
LOL @ C.S. Lewis and his punctuation marks...Till We Have Faces is a great Lenten read!
Maybe I should pick up Everything Sad is Untrue for Holy Week (The Read Along Guides must be written soon). Thanks for the tip!
I sometimes think I should just buy 100 copies and hand them out as I walk around like a total creep
Do it!!
"looks like you need this..." 🙃😅
LOL...but seriously that book found me right when I needed it. Actually maybe I need to read it again this week!
It's everyone's favorite cynic, Ivan Karamazov :)
That right there makes me question my entire life and brings a level of nuance to this quote that I wasn't sure was possible
It's even more interesting when you know Ivan is an atheist who thinks God is a menace due to the problem of evil. It's part of why The Brothers K is such a compelling read! Ultimately the conclusion is that we cannot understand God with our minds alone
It makes me wonder if there's this "he's wrong but he's also right but not in the way he thinks he is" dynamic to this quote, kind of like Weisel on the question of where God is. (I would also very badly like to understand God with my mind alone, Ivan! ha.)
Thank you for the *much needed* context! Not sure I would have chosen to highlight it at all if I had known it was Ivan who said it. But here we are.
I think in a way it underscores your point, though, because I think what Dostoevsky is hinting through that passage is that although Ivan claims to not believe in God, he is actually angry with God, suggesting that he believes despite his denials. Ivan's obsession with The Problem of Evil shows that he is still wrestling with God even as he denies Him. Kind of a perfect metaphor for Good Friday. Somehow God dies but is still alive in every one of us.
Huh. The "anger" vs. "indifference" relationship difference again.
This is really making me want to pick up the household copy of Brothers K (as we called it in high school).