Analysis of The Inquisitor's Argument in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov

In the Bible, the population, at first does not accept Jesus, but more come to believe in Him after he is able to prove his powers through the miracles he performs.  However, the nobility, especially, they fear that their power is threatened; eventually, they are out to get Jesus.  Once Jesus' authority is questioned, most people who once believed in him no longer acknowledge their faith in him.  Eventually, swayed by the aristocrats, the people begin hating Jesus. He is treated less than human and is no longer a useful tool for the people, a source of healing or peace.  He becomes a scapegoat, and is considered the source of problems.  Even the people closest to him, his disciples, betray him.  Judas sells

This statement by Jesus is also coming at a time when His arrest and death are nearing. This statement is sandwiched right in between Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit to his disciples, and His

In the beginning of the Inquisitor’s Tale, Jeanne was a baby in her crib with Gwenforte watching her sleep. As Jeanne was sleep, a snake snuck into her room and tried to attack her. Gwenforte saw the snake and growled at it to give it a warning. The snake didn’t care about Gwenforte’s warning and went towards Jeanne in her crib. Gwenforte covered Jeanne hay to hide her from the snake and prevented her from not witnessing the scene that was about to happen. Gwenforte jumped on the snake and bit it while it was still down. The snake slowly died, while blood covered the whole room as the parents walked in from working. Jeanne parents saw the blood around the room, and they thought Gwenforte had killed Jeanne while she was sleeping. The parents

Tannehill says that this story has two conflicting narratives on what it means to be the son of God. One narrative is that Jesus is all powerful. This narrative is suggested when the devil tempts Jesus to turn a stone into bread for him to eat. The next narrative is that Jesus is perfectly holy. This narrative is showed when the devil tells Jesus that if Jesus worships his, he will give Jesus power over everything he sees. Tannehill also points out the fact that each of the three things Jesus tells the devil after he is tempted are all quotes from Deuteronomy. Each of the temptations also represent something else. The first temptation is about being in the wilderness with no access to food. The second temptation is about the kingdoms

In addition to this, as the society is influenced to continue to indulge in buying consumer good people feel the need to own things, causing them to devote all their time to labor which results in them losing some of their freedom. In his book, he says, “...my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than getting rid of. Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a word, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in (Baym, Levine 982).” In other words, a farmer is chained to their farm because it is difficult for them to get rid of debt which causes them to work more than necessary for their subsistence. So, Thoreau argued that by living a minimalist lifestyle a person only has to work enough to be able to cover the essentials and not slave themselves to their

The next device involves presenting the losses of serving Christ. However, Satan fails to mention the gains of knowing Christ. Again, this concept relates to short-term and long-term thinking. Jesus tells us, “In this world you will have

When the upper class expected a revolt of the lower class because of the terrible way they were treating them, they came up with a solution to keep the lower class in check. The decided to run this program called ”Bread and Circuses” that would give the lower class entertainment so they would be occupied and wouldn't revolt, as well as providing free food for them. Instead of revolting, the lower class settled and accepted the upper class’s solution for their inequality. In my opinion, you do not deserve freedom you are not willing to fight for. When subject to someone else decisions and actions, you aren't really safe because you can’t control those decisions or actions.

Jesus ' life and ministry can be compared and contrasted to leaders of the Old Testament in the Bible that are highly underestimated. One example of a leader who deserves a newfound respect Old Testament leader is Queen Esther, who was once a poor Jew, was crowned queen when King Ahsaurerus married her. The second in command of the King, Haman, underestimated Esther, as he did not realize she was a Jew, and tried to kill every Jew that lived in their country. Esther knew she needed to save her people so she revealed this plot to the king and said in Esther 7:3, "If I have found favor in your site, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people my request."1 This bold statement is Esther basically saying that she would give up her life in exchange for her people. This example is an excellent one of a great leader who deserves a far greater respect than she deserves because Esther had the power

We must be attentive and alert of the evil temptations that are among us and because we are human we are subject to fall to the weakness of our flesh if we are not watchful and prayerful.

More important than the meaning of πτερυγιον is the significance of Luke’s deviation from the order of Matthew’s temptations, a question which has occasioned no small scholarly discussion. Matthew has the following order: 1) turn stones into bread, 2) throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple, and 3) bow down and worship Satan. Luke, by contrast, reverses the order of the second and third temptations, so that the final temptation occurs on the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem. Bovon lists three possible factors motivating Luke to make this reversal: 1) Jerusalem, in particular the temple, plays a very significant salvation-historical role in the final days of Jesus; 2) the issue of political authority (the second temptation) is

Here, the devil insinuates that Jesus is not the true Son of God and that if he was, he would command his angels to come down. This is a prideful act that Jesus successfully avoids by telling the devil that he cannot be tempted. "Again it is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God" (4). Lastly, the devil tries to lure Jesus by bribing him with worldly objects. Jesus then put his foot down exclaiming, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve'" (4).

In Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov is torn between the side of him that doesn’t want to feel guilt for the murder he committed and the side of him that wants repentance which is represented by both Svidrigailov and Sonia. As Raskolnikov deals with his guilt, he is caught between wanting to be exactly like Svidrigailov who doesn’t feel anything even though he has committed so many murders, as well as wanting to connect to someone like Sonia who is the angel on his shoulder that wants him to do good and confess his heinous crime. His two sides are constantly battling against one another because when he is with one side he starts to want the other and feels as if he can’t connect with them even though Sonia and

After being baptized, Jesus went into a wilderness in Judea. There he fasted for forty days and forty nights. He was hungry and weary. The devil came to tempt him while he was at a low point in his life. Known for taking the easy way out, the devil tried three times to get Jesus to do what he asked. One of the requests was to bow down and worship the devil. All three times Jesus was strong and held on to his faith. Finally, after the last request Jesus sent the devil on his way.

In terms of miracle and mystery, the Grand Inquisitor criticizes Christ for not erasing blind faith by casting himself down from heaven since “the angels shall hold him up lest he fall and bruise himself, and Thou [man] shalt know then whether Thou art the Son of God.” By not doing this, Christ left his listless masses susceptible to opportunistic people like the Grand Inquisitor or, like Machiavelli had mentioned, religious leaders, or, in more broad terms, leaders that claim divine rights who will, in turn, utilize the “mystery” surrounding the existence of Christ and therefore God to enslave and unify the already weak masses. Dostoevsky wrote that “the beast [man] will crawl to us and lick our feet [Grand Inquisitor’s and those of similar strand] and splatter them with tears of blood from their eyes. And we shall sit upon the beast and raise the cup, and on it will be written "mystery." [...] only then, the reign of peace and happiness will come for men. '" Meaning that they, the Grand Inquisitor and the such, will make man fearful and ‘happy,’ and will deceive them with promise of rewards of heaven if need be to ensure that they remain compliant; compliance also being a vital concept for Machiavelli.

These are some examples why many Christians have a weak foundation in God and his Son Jesus. During the papacy of Pope Pius XI, we see clear evidence that he saw a drift of people from the Church, and he reminded us that “the gigantic and urgent task was winning back to Christ of those vast multitudes who had deserted Him or had never truly known Him.” (Collins 1948)