Author:
YU Hang, Associate Professor, School of Chinese Literature and Linguistics, Guangxi Normal University.
Abstract:
The discussion of Judaism constitutes a crucial element within Dostoevsky's contemplation of the Russian nation's religious mission in world history. By analyzing the discussion of the Jewish question among characters in Dostoevsky's literary works, and combining this with his personal stance as expressed in political essays and letters, it becomes feasible to explore the Jewish question in Dostoevsky's religious philosophy more comprehensively.
Dostoevsky believed that the Russian nation was the contemporary chosen people of God, having inherited the religious mission in world history from the Jewish people. The notion of the Jewish rejection of Christ Jesus and of the "blood libel" against the Jews which had been circulating since the Middle Ages and which was common in the late nineteenth-century wave of anti-Semitism in Russia is also reflected in Dostoevsky's works, where it is related to Dostoevsky's poetics emphasizing the beauty of the God-given image of humanity. Such views influenced the thinking of the philosopher of religion Solovyov, who incorporated Dostoevsky's views into his interpretation of the relationship between Christianity and Judaism, replacing Dostoevsky's dualistic Judeophobia with a syllogistic idea of interactive dialogue.
Keywords:
Dostoevsky, Religious Philosophy, Jewish question, Blood libel, Solovyov
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